Miraculous: Year 2
by Therealgamehero
Summary: After a long summer, Marinette (Ladybug), Adrien (Cat Noir), Chloe (Queen Bee), and Alya (Volpina) return to school, only to meet a new kid who tries to help against Hawk Moth
1. The Incinerator

The Incenerator

Today was the first day of school for the students who lived in Paris, the start of the new year, and what better way to start with fighting evil. Near the 12th arondissiment 4 heroes were all engaging a villain that appeared to be an ice monster with blue skin and icicle shards for shoulder pads as well as a pointed white beard. "you know, you should really 'chill out' man," Cat Noir gleefully chimed as he dodged more icicles launched in his direction, and a simultaneous groan emerged from the other three.

"You know you could just go to school we could handle this without you," Queen Bee said with an annoyed tone to her voice, "who knows it might actually be easier."

"If not easier it will at least be quieter," Volpina added on, "maybe I'll finally be able to hear myself think."

But they were all shut down, "guys focus," Ladybug said as she smashed some icicles with her yoyo, "we're all gonna need to work together if we want to beat Frostus."

"You will never beat me," Frostus boomed, "just give me your miraculous and I will let you go."

"Not happening snow cone," Cat Noir said slightly puffing out his chest, "because we are the heroes of justice, we are the heroes of Paris, we are AHHH," he was cut off by Queen Bee tackling him to the ground in order to avoid Frostus' icicles.

"Save the dramatic speeches for later furball, you nearly lost your life." Queen Bee scolded as she got back up to face Frostus.

"Relax," Cat said as he prepared his stick, "even if I did I still got 8 more."

"Guys focus," Ladybug scolded, she then threw her yoyo into the air with the familiar words," LUCKY CHARM." As soon as she said that, a flash of red and black appeared and formed into a small object that landed in her hands, "a blanket?" Ladybug stared at the object in confusion.

"Well at least we'll be warm when we get frozen," Cat chimed in.

"Keep him busy while I think," Ladybug shouted to her allies.

"You got it girl," Volpina shouted back, she planted her reed flute into the ground and shouted, "ILLUSION." Suddenly surrounding Frostus was no longer one, but 7 Volpinas. They all ran in a circle around him. "Come on find the real fox," they all said in unison, "and girl you better figure out what that blankets for quick before my minutes are up."

Ladybug then thought about everything she knew about Frostus. He was an ice cream cart salesman but seeing as how weather was cooling off early this year, his company immodestly fired him and replaced him with a hot dog vendor. He wasn't happy about that and Hawk Moth took advantage of that and put an akuma in his ice cream lapel pin which gave him ice powers which he used to freeze civilians in... ICE. She scanned the roof looking for anything she may need. The whole world went black and white and she could see clearly what she needed. The ac exhaust flashed red and black, as did Cat Noir, then the blanket, then Queen Bee.

" Got it," she shouted proudly, "Cat Noir, get that exhuast open completely."

"On it my lady" Cat replied before letting his power loose, "CATACLYSM." His hand then irradiated black aura, and when he gently scratched the ac exhaust, it crumbled before him, releasing a huff of warm air at him.

Ladybug then made her move. She took the simple blanket and began wrapping Frostus in it. Once it was nice and tight she called to her other ally," Queen Bee lock him."

Queen Bee knew what she meant. The Golden super hero jumped at Frostus and used her power to seal the blanket around him, "HONEY BEE." Immediately honey appeared on his chest where Queen Bee's hand was, locking the blanket around his body. Ladybug hopped off and the two heroines kicked the ice man towards the exhaust.

Frostus tried to get up, but couldn't find the energy. He was weak from all the heat, even his icicle shoulder pads were melting. Ladybug took advantage of this and walked over to grab his lapel pin. Then, like she had done money times before, she smashed the pin under her foot releasing the purple and black butterfly with her almost rythymic words, "no more evil doing for you little akuma." Keeping with her rythym, she opened her yoyo to reveal the glowing center and threw it at the akuma screaming, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE." She caught the akuma in her yoyo and then brought it back to her. She opened her yoyo again to release a beautiful white butterfly and as she always did said, "bye bye little butterfly." Suddenly the blanket that was wrapped around Frostus was in her hand (none of her teammates quite sure how it got there) and she threw it to the sky with her famous, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG." Suddenly a wave of red and black went over Paris and everything returned to normal, people unfroze, damage caused was fixed, and Frostus returned to his old self simply asking, "where am I," Like every akuma victim does.

The four then gathered together and simultaneously said, "pound it," As they did a four person fist bump, but their victory was cut short but the beeping of all of their miraculous. "We need to get to school before our powers run out", Volpina said quietly so the ice cream vendor couldn't hear.

Nodding in agreement, Ladybug, Cat Noir, Queen Bee, and Volpina all ran off toward the school to begin their first day of their second year.

They all had barely made it. They all took their seats in Ms. Bustiers classroom. Luckily she wasn't their yet so they wouldn't have to explain why they were almost late. Each of the heroes took their seats. Adrien sat in front with next to Nino and the two began chatting. Behind them was Marinette and Alya and behind them sat Chloe (she had to beg Ivan to move because she wanted to sit near Marinette and Alya. She only convinced when she said she'd buy the new Zombie Skull Crushers CD for him and he moved to sit next to Kim).

Marinette took a brief look around the classroom and noticed how the class had changed. Apparently Mylene's father was going on tour with his troupe and she went with him, so she would be gone until midway through the year. Max was so smart that he got bumped up a grade, so he wasn't here. Chloe asked her father to stop having Mr. Damocles put Sabrina in the same classes as her, seeing as she was an exemplary student she was transferred to the advanced classes. Lila had gone to another school, no one was sure why. But what really caught Marinette's eye was the new kid.

He was sitting where Chloe had sat last year and was leaning back in his seat with his left knee against the desk and his right leg kicked out in front of him rocking his chair back and forth. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a Jagged Stone t-shirt, as well as brown combat boots and blue jeans. He had headphones in so Marinette doubted he could hear her and before she even had a chance to talk to him, Chloe interrupted shoving her phone between Alya and Marinette.

"Look, look, LOOK," Chloe said with all excitement as she shoved the phone into their faces.

Marinette read what it said out loud, " _heroes stop early winter_." It was a story about them stopping Frostus.

"It's amazing," Chloe said giddily, "this is the front page of the paper today. We made the front page."

Marinette rolled her eyes, "Chloe I don't care about the front page."

"I do," Alya said as she grabbed the phone from Chloe's hand and began reading the article, "I was hoping the Frostus fight would be an exclusive for the Ladyblog. And where did this photo come from, I didn't see any photographers there did you."

"Why am I not surprised that you were at the akuma attack, Alya," Nino said in his normal relaxed tone, "you always risk yourself for the sake of the story, and did you drag poor Marinette along with you, for shame."

Alya gave Nino a stare that screamed, I will end you, and quickly he turned around and looked at his tablet. Adrien laughed as Nino faked working."Come on Alya," Adrien said, "its one story, can't you let it slide?"

"Says here that Ladybug, Queen Bee, and Volpina stopped him," Alya said, "weird I guess Cat Noir wasn't there."

This caught Adriens attention, he jumped up and stared at the phone. "what do you mean I...uh... Cat Noir wasn't their," he shouted, "He's always there, it's what he does."

"Well according to this he wasn't there," Alya went on, "he's not even in the picture."

Adrien continued to read the article. "Well clearly this is wrong," Adrien complained, "I mean Cat Noir is always there, Alya you're going to have to report the truth."

"I don't know Adrien," Alya replied smugly, "I don't think I saw Cat there."

"Don't mess with me Alya we both know he had to be there," Adrien said, but immediately turned towards Marinette, "Come on Mari you were there you saw him."

Marinette smiled and thought before answering, "I don't know, I don't remember seeing him."

Adrien then leaned over and whispered in her ear, "that sounds like the talk of a single girl."

Marinette immediately changed her answer, "actually I think I saw him, maybe, probably, I mean there was something black there right? Right."

Adrien laughed and then leaned over again but this time gave Marinette a quick kiss.

"Mr. Agreste, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, I'll admit your love is adorable, but public displays of affection are frowned upon in school," both of them jumped at the voice and turned to see Ms. Bustier had walked in, "you two can happily show it off on your own time now take your seats." The two laughed then sat down to look at the board. "Good," Ms. Bustier said, "now that everyone is seated, I should introduce our new student."

Everyone turned toward the kid in the front row, who was still listening to his music."Mr. Firgate," Ms. Bustier called to him, but he couldn't hear her. Mildly irritated, Ms. Bustier walked over and pushed his knee off the desk. The front legs of his chair fell to the floor. Surprised, the new kid quickly jumped in his seat and then sat up straight and crossed his fingers and placed his hands the desk, the way the stereotypical good kid sits. He then pulled out one ear bud and in a joking voice simply said "yeees".

Ms. Bustier was not amused,"wouldn't you like to introduce yourself to the class."

"No, but I assume I don't have a choice." He said as he got up. As he walked to the front of the class he took out his headphones and wrapped them around his hand, only to clip them on a carabiner on his belt. Now that he was at the front of the class, Marinette got a good look at his face. He had hazel eyes and brown hair with his bangs dyed purple. He clearly had trouble sleeping by bags under his eyes. He also wore glasses, black frames without bottoms under the actual lenses.

"My name Samuel Edwin Firgate, but I'd prefer if you call me Sam," he then took a long bow, crossing his left leg behind his right putting his right arm across his stomach and his left across his back, "a pleasure to meet all of you." This got a small chuckle among the class. Sam stood up straight to reveal he was very tall. If Marinette had to guess at least 190 cm. "May I go back to my seat," Sam said, looking at Ms. Bustier.

Ms. Bustier gave a slight nod and Sam went back to his seat and sat the way he was sitting before. Chloe then leaned forward and whispered to Marinette, "not much of a looker is he."

"He has an interesting personality to say the least," Marinette replied, "although it's a little weird how he's wearing a jacket. I get it's cooling off early this year, but it's not that cold yet."

Without looking at her Sam pointed at Marinette, "the jacket has sentimental value." He then looked her dead in the eyes, "and personally I look amazing in it."

The whole class laughed at the situation, but Ms. Bustier was not amused. "Mr. Firgate," She yelled, "if you keep up your obnoxious behavior I will send you to the principle."

Sam looked at his watch. "and we're not even 5 minutes into class," Sam said, "that may be a new record for me."

"Well I'm not one to disappoint Mr. Firgate," Ms, Bustier said furiously, "go see Mr. Damocles. NOW."

Sam stood up threw his hands in the air and screamed, "WOO, personal best," as he walked out the door.

"You were right, Marinette," Chloe whispered, "he certainly has personality."

Class dragged on for what seemed like forever, about halfway through Sam got back and sat down like nothing had happened, simply taking out his tablet and copying what was on the board. Finally it was time for lunch and Alya was extremely excited, so much so that Marinette, Chloe, and Adrien were all scared.

"What's got you so excited," Adrien asked.

Alya looked at him with a gleam in her eye and a bright smile,"The new kid, Sam. He's mysterious and rebellious, and it's my journalistic duty to find out everything about him."

"So I guess that means you won't be joining us and Nino for lunch?" Marinette asked.

"Nope, I'll have to rain check but I'll see you guys later," Alya said staring at Sam sitting on the bench in the courtyard eating a sandwich.

"We'll be at the café down the street if you change your mind," Chloe said.

"Yeah, yeah I'll see you later," Alya was way to focused on Sam to care. The minute everyone left Alya walked over to the bench where Sam was sitting and took a seat next to him.

Sam looked at her, stopping mid chew. He quickly swallowed and then spoke,"Yo."

"Hi, I'm Alya," she put her hand out to shake, but jokingly Sam put a napkin in her hand.

"There you go, don't spend it all in one place", Sam said before focusing on his sandwich again.

Alya put the napkin back in her pocket and continued striking conversation," listen I just thought you seemed interesting and wanted to know more about you."

"Why?" Sam replied while still chewing.

"Well to put it simply it's my journalistic nature," Alya said proudly.

Sam stopped completely and then looked at her, "you're a journalist?" Alya nodded with pride. "My dad had a saying about journalists," Sam said, "he always said," he cleared his throat and made a deep mocking voice, "Son you should just answer a journalists questions to the best of your ability, then they will just leave you alone." He then stopped his mockery and looked at Alya," ask away."

Alya was overjoyed, "well if you want to treat this like an interview we can. let's start with the obvious, for the record your name is Samuel Edwin Firgate?"

"No, it's actually Samagator, destroyer of worlds and conqurer of souls," Sam answered in a dry, sarcastic tone.

Alya rolled her eyes and moved on, "where are you from?"

"America," Sam said in a way so Alya could tell he was being serious, "Chicago if we're going into specifics."

"What's it like there?" Alya continued.

"It's nice there," Sam said as he put his hands behind his head, "but here it's beautiful."

"Why did you come to France," Alya asked.

"Parents wanted me to study abroad," Sam said looking up in thought, "figured it would tech me some manners."

"What about your parents," Alya continued, "you mentioned your father, are you close?"

"Not at all," Sam said making a slightly upset face, "we're so far apart that they stayed in Chicago. Mom and Dad run a big company so they couldn't just up and leave, so they paid for my house and monthly expenses, but at least they visit during the holidays, wish they didn't though."

Alya could tell he didn't like his parents much, so decided to move on, "what about..."

"HEY NEW KID", a voice boomed across the courtyard

Alya jumped while Sam just stared at who the voice was coming from. It was Kim

"Hey new kid, pretty impressive how you got to see Damocles on the first day," Kim said standing next to them now.

"Yeah I thought so too," Sam replied with his standard cocky attitude, "personally I think I could've done it quicker though."

Kim laughed, "you probably shouldn't try that."

"Probably not, especially considering I'm just starting to make new friends," Sam replied as he forced Alya into a hug with one arm. She then pretended to be disgusted by removing the arm with her index finger and thumb.

"I can see that," Kim said, "clearly you've got some skill to get a trip to Damocles in 5 minutes yet somehow make a friend the same day."

"Yeah and that's just what I can do with other people," Sam said, "wait till you see what I can do on my own."

Kim made an interested face," you got some personal skill huh?"

Alya stood up,"No, Kim, no bets he just got here you can't make a bet with him on his first day."

"Why not," Kim said, "Someone needs to show him how things work 'round here, starting with my bets." Kim turned towards Sam, "I make a lot of bets."

Sam put his stuff down and then stood up to look Kim dead in the eyes, "I'm interested, what's the bet?"

"No, no, no," Alya said stepping between the two, "guys we're not doing this!"

"What's the wager," Sam said perking his eyebrow.

"5 laps round the courtyard, first one done wins," Kim said

"I'm game," Sam said with a smirk, "what're we betting?"

"If I win I get that 'sentimental jacket' of yours," Kim said.

"Hmmm," Sam thought deeply, "alright, but seeing how you like you to bets a lot, if I win you can't make bets for the rest of the school year."

"THE WHOLE YEAR," Kim shouted, "doesn't that seem like a long time."

"Well you asked a lot from me," Sam said, "I'm asking a lot from you."

Kim froze for a second to think. Alya took advantage of this,"Ok Kim's hesitant guess that means he doesn't wanna do..."

"It's a bet," Kim said.

Before Alya could even finish her sentence the two were shaking hands and going over the terms. Alya quickly pulled out her phone to text Marinette. She quickly typed.

 **Alya 12:02pm:** _Girl, get over here quick. Kim and Sam are making a bet and I need help stopping them._

 **Marinette 12:02pm:** _what's wrong with that? Kim makes bets all the time._

 **Alya 12:02pm:** _it's not Kim I'm worried about, I'm worried about Sam, the kid from out of country who doesn't know what an akuma is and just bet a sentimental jacket, if he loses the race, he loses the jacket and when someone loses something sentimental it doesn't make them happy._

 **Marinette 12:03pm:** _that's not good,_ _I'm on my way Adrien and Chloe are coming too._

Alya put her phone away and put her focus back on Sam and Kim. The two were prepping to start.

"Hang on Kim," Sam stopped before they took off.

"Chickening out," Kim mocked.

"Only in your dreams," Sam said as he ran over to Alya, he then took off his jacket and put it in Alya's hands, "hold onto it I don't want it dirty, and if Kim somehow miraculously wins, then I'm sure he wouldn't want it dirty either."

Alya stared at him for a second before talking, "listen, you shouldn't do this."

"The bet's already been made," Sam said, "and I'm not one to go back on my word."

"But if you lose it could be disastrous," Alya said, "I know it's different in America, but in Paris emotions can be dangerous. There's this guy called Hawk Moth and whenever someone gets angry or sad or scared he makes them into some form of supervillain. And if you lose this race... that 'sentimental jacket' you have, Hawk Moth may do that to you."

"Let's assume what you say is true," Sam said, "you want me to stop living my life just because of some hawk jerk, I don't think so."

"But you could get akumatized," Alya said with worry in her eyes.

"Listen Alya," Sam said putting a hand on her shoulder, "I personally like helping people and hate seeing them get hurt, but I'm not going to stop because of one guy. Besides Kim is more likely to get... uh... what did you call it... akumatized?" Alya nodded, Sam continued, "Kim is more likely to get akumatized than me. now please hold my jacket.

Alya knew she couldn't stop him, no matter what she said, Sam would go through with this. Most of all, she knew somehow knew she was gonna regret what she was about to say, "just make sure you're the one taking it back."

"I can guarantee that," Sam said with an unwavering certainty in his voice. He then took his place again. Kim prepped himself in a running position, while Sam stood up straight, plotting his moves in his head.

"What's the matter aren't you gonna get in position," Kim asked with confidence, "or are you having second thoughts?"

"Nah I'm ready, just say when," Sam said with a thousand yard stare down his path.

"Alright if you say so," Kim taunted, "3...2...1...GO"

The two bolted off with Sam immediately taking the lead leaving Kim in the dust. Suddenly the regret Alya had for letting him do this was gone. She knew he could do it as much as he did. But someone else didn't.

"ALYA,"the yell made Alya jump, she turned to see Marinette, Chloe, and Adrien. Marinette did not look happy, "How could you let this bet happen, what if Sam loses?"

Alya shook her head, "I told Sam what could happen if he loses, and he didn't care. He won't stop living his life just because of Hawk Moth. Besides," She paused to look at Sam and Kim running, "I think he can win this."

Marinette got a little angrier,"How do you know."

"Call it a hunch, and how many times have my hunches been wrong."

Marinette looked at her and the anger left her, "alright but if you're wrong you'll never live it down."

Alya smiled," it's a good thing I'm not wrong."

The four miraculous holders looked at the race. Two laps had passed by, Sam was still in the lead but Kim trailed close behind. They both were moving top speed, neither letting up an inch. Lap three, Kim was slowly catching up because Sam put to much in at the beginning, they were neck and neck speeding around the court. lap four, Sam was pushing himself as hard as he could pushing to beat Kim, the two stayed neck and neck as they went into the final lap. Sam started to stray behind Kim but kept going in order to win, Marinette, Chloe, and Adrien were all staring daggers, but all of them were surprised when Sam did the unexpected.

Sam ran towards the wall near the track they were running around, and then ran on it. Sam was running on the wall, granted only a couple steps but that's all he needed, because while Kim was making the last turn, Sam kicked off the wall, passing Kim in the air, and rolling across the finish line. Sam rolled to the point where he lands on his knees and threw his arms up in the air and screamed, "YES, YES, YEEEEEEEES. THAT IS HOW IT IS DONE."

He turned to Alya and walked over slowly and extended a single hand,"I... huff... would... like... my jacket bacl."

Alya handed the jacket to him and he slipped it on, then adjusted it so that it lay flat across his body except where he had stuff in his pockets.

Sam walked to Kim and extended a hand," You lose man, better luck next time."

Kim looked at him still wheezing from the run and instead of grabbing Sam's hand, he grabbed his sleeve with his fingers inside it, and his thumb out. "You... cheated," Kim wheezed," I earned the jacket, you didn't play fair."

Sam's cool expression with his cheery smile turned cold, his smile faded and his eyes went dark. "Let go Kim."

Kim held on, "you didn't play by our rules man, I win by default. I get the jacket."

"Let go," Sam was progressively getting more frustrated, and then both of them pulled hard.

Sam's jacket ripped down the sleeve, a long tear all the way to the sleeve. Sam stopped dead in his tracks. Kim looked shocked, "man I'm sorry, I just don't like losing, I'll do anything to make it..."

"SHUT UP," Sam's cool expression was now gone in every sense it was flaming burning rage. "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP," Sam shouted at the top of his lungs, "YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO MAKE THIS UP. YOU RUINED MY FATHERS JACKET."

Sam didn't even look as he ran out the front of the school. Marinette, Alya, Chloe, and Adrien all ran after him, but by the time they made it to the main entrance, Sam was gone.

Marinettes satchel shook a little bit, she opened it to reveal the little red and black kwami. "Marinette," Tikki said, peeping out of the satchel, "we need to find him before he anything bad happens."

"Well in that case maybe this is a job for Ladybug instead of Marinette." Chloe added

The little black and yellow Kwami popped out of Chloe's jacket. "Chloe's right," Pollen said, "we should transform in order to find him, we can search faster from the rooftops."

"Awww," a little black cat popped from Adrien's shirt. "and I was just enjoying my Camembert," Plagg added.

"Well you'll have to enjoy it later, we have to catch the akuma before it reaches Sam," Adrien scolded the little cat.

"Right," Alya said, she opened her shirt pocket to see a sleeping fox kwami, "TRIXX."

The fox jumped up and looked at Alya. "I was sleeping," Trixx said sleepily.

"Well if you weren't sleeping you would know there was a bet and now a possible akuma," Alya scolded.

"Oh no I was awake for the bet," Trixx said, "it just seemed way to fun to stop."

Alya got frustrated, "Not like you could've done anything anyway."

"We don't have time for this," Marinette added," we have to find him."

"Right," everyone said simultaneously. They all ran off behind the school and into an alley where no one can see and began their transformation

"Tikki, Spots On!"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Pollen, Stingers Out!"

"Trixx, Tails Up!"

And with a flash the four switched from being average teenagers to miraculous superheroes.

"Alright," Ladybug commanded, "let's find Sam."

Sam ran and ran until he couldn't anymore and then ran some more. When Sam finally looked around he saw no one around, he was in some sort of alley. He took the chance to sit down and rest. He needed to get away, to escape before he really got mad, who knows what he would've done then. As Sam looked at his jacket he got more angry. This wasn't fixable, not easily at the least. He stared at the rip down his sleeve and just thought of his father, of when he gave him this jacket, and all that did was make him angrier that it was ruined. Sam was just glad he got out of there before he hurt someone or did something else he might regret.

Then out of nowhere Sam saw it, a small purple-ish black butterfly, he stared at it with fascination. Then it landed on his ripped sleeve and disappeared like magic, and to go along he could hear a voice. "Greetings Incinerator, I am Hawk Moth. You have a lot of burning rage inside you, and you want to release it on those who have wronged you. I can grant you that power but in return you must bring me the miraculous." Upon that last word, images of a pair of red earrings with black spots, a necklace that looked like a fox tail, a hair comb with a bee design on it, and a black ring with a green cat paw popped in Sam's head. "do we have a deal," Hawk Moth asked.

Sam didn't want to say yes, he knew that people would get hurt, but his rage took control. Before he had a chance to even think, he spoke against his will, "I will burn them all."

And then everything went black in Sam's mind.

Volpina searched up and down to find Sam. She checked every crack, every alley, every crevice that she thought Sam could fit in. She kept switching her reed flute to comms mode to ask if anyone else found him, but no such luck. She was worried.

Then she heard it, a low but faint noise she only picked up with her fox ears, screaming and crashing. "Well this can't be good," Volpina said to herself, before following the noise.

When she found where the sound was coming from, she panicked slightly. The area was surrounded with fire, cars were burnt, people were running, luckily Volpina could tell no one had gotten hurt by looking around for a while. Eventually she saw the cause, a man walking down the street covered from head to toe in flames. Volpina rushed down to meet him.

"Sam, Sam is that you," Volpina called out to meet him, "Sam I know you're angry but you have to..."

"SHUT UP! I DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING," he shouted at her, then chucked a massive ball of fire toward Volpina," AND I'M NOT SAM, I'M INCINERATOR."

Volpina quickly dodged the fireball, then focused back on Incinerator. Incinerator continued on his war path, and Volpina quickly realized where he was going. Incinerator had set a path for the school. Volpina switched her reed flute to comms mode and contacted the other three, "guys I found Sam, he's been akumatized and is heading towards the school. He's got the ability to control fire from what I can tell."

"Well as much as I 'love' the idea of school cancelled due to akumas, we have to stop him," Cat Noir said, his image on Volpinas flute showed him already running toward the fight.

"Come on we have to hurry," Ladybug said, she then hung up on her end. Most likely to use her yoyo to travel around the city.

The other two quickly hung up not long after. Volpina quickly followed suit and ran toward the school.

"I'M LOOKING FOR KIM," Incinerator roared so it could be heard throughout the school," WHERE IS HE?"

"Sorry hot head," the tall black cat said," but I'm afraid Mr. Kim isn't here right now, leave a message after the beat... down. The beat down. Aw man... I'm losing my touch."

Incinerator threw a fireball towards Cat Noir, but the Cat jumped over it and did a flip in the air to land on his feet with on hand on the ground and one in the air. "Have you considered therapy," Cat taunted, "you seem to have a lot of anger issues."

Incinerator screamed at Cat, then his flames grew larger and brighter. Cat covered his face to block the light. "Should've brought my sunscreen."

Cat couldn't see due to the light and didn't notice the fireball hurling towards him. Right before he got hit, he felt something wrap around his waste and got pulled away. Cat looked to see Queen Bee wrapped her trompo around him in order to save him and caught him. "One day your jokes are gonna get you killed," Queen Bee scolded.

"You know if you're looking for a thank you kiss, I should tell you I'm taken." Cat said with a smile. Queen Bee dropped him.

"So how do we stop him?" Queen Bee asked while studying the flaming man.

"Well I assume we find the akuma, we break the object it's in, and Ladybug purifies it. I think we've been doing this long enough for you to know that." Cat chimed gleefully.

Queen rolled her eyes, "well then let's find the object, what does he still have that he had before transforming."

"Hard to tell with the literal inferno surrounding him," Cat said jokingly.

While Cat and Queen tried to figure out his akuma, Incinerator was more focused on other things, "KIM," he shouted pointing towards the scared kid in his red hoodie on second floor. "YOU WILL RECOMPENSE FOR WHAT YOU DID."

Flames burst out of Incinerator's hands towards the floor, propelling him upwards. Right before he made it to the second floor, a string wrapped around him pulling him back to the ground. Incinerator looked up in rage to see a small red and black yoyo returning to the spotted superhero alongside the fox he met earlier. "Sam listen," Ladybug called, "we know you're angry but you need to calm down."

Incinerator looked around only to see that one of the heroes was on each of his sides. Ladybug in front, Volpina left, Queen Bee right, and Cat Noir behind.

"I DID NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH YOU YET," Incinerator screamed at them, "BUT YOU ARE STANDING IN MY WAY, SO NOW I WILL HAVE TO."

Incinerator started spinning his arms around each other generating a small ring of fire around his body. He then thrust his arms outward, launching the ring at all the heroes and knocking them all back. "WHICH ONE SHOULD I START WITH!"

"Yo, Hot Head," Cat Noir shouted. Incinerator turned toward Cat only to be hit in the face with his stick.

Incinerator got madder, he shouted out and his flames intensified again. In return for getting hit with a stick, Incinerator threw another fireball at Cat.

Cat jumped away and landed next to the other heroes. "So he didn't like that," Cat said staring at his flaming foe.

Queen realized something, "guys his flames get more intense with rage, the more mad he gets the more powerful he becomes."

"So don't make him mad and he can't get more powerful," Ladybug asked.

"I think so," Bee answered, "every time Tomcat's made him mad he's gotten more powerful so it's my best guess why."

"So Cat," Volpina added, "Shut up before you get us all burnt to a crisp."

Cat made a motion symbolizing him zipping his lips shut. "Good at least he's quiet," Queen Bee added, "now we can focus on how to stop him."

"We need to put out the flames to find where his akuma is," Ladybug said.

Incinerator began throwing fireballs at them to stop them from planning, but Volpina already had a plan. "Hey matchbook," She shouted at the akuma. Incinerator turned toward Volpina with raging eyes, "try to keep track, ILLUSION!"

One Volpina turned to seven and six began dancing around the akuma. Incinerator kept chucking fire at the fake Volpina's, even trying his ring technique again, but to no avail, only getting more angry and brighter flames.

While the six Volpinas kept the akuma busy, the seventh began focusing on the sprinkler system jumping from sprinkler to sprinkler in order to break them. Water rained down upon Incinerator. Incinerator fell to his knees with a scream, but this time his flames went down.

"I knew it," Volpina rejoiced.

"Knew what," Ladybug shouted.

"That water would make his fire weaker," Volpina jumped up and down in joy.

"It doesn't just make him weaker," Queen Bee heaved, "tell me fox, what bee does good in water."

Volpina winced a bit. "Sorry Bee," she said, "I forget sometimes."

Incinerator didn't take kindly to the water, but used what power he had left to create a blinding light.

When the light died, Incinerator was gone.

"We have to find him before he gets his heat back," Cat Noir shouted.

"First can we get me out of here, I kinda wanna have power again," Queen Bee shouted

Ladybug and Volpina helped Queen Bee out of the school. All of the miraculous holders looked around in search of Incinerator, but he was nowhere to be found.

"We're going to need to find him," Volpina says, but is quickly followed by the beeping of her necklace.

"We're gonna find him, you recharge," Ladybug told her, "we'll catch up later."

Volpina nodded and took off. Queen Bee stood on her own and shook herself a little, "Well as much as I don't like it we're going to need to get Incinerator near water."

"Ok and how do we do that, we don't even know where he is," Cat added on.

"Well I got a plan but it involves illusions and an annoying cat," Ladybug said giving Cat Noir a sly grin.

"Why don't I like the sound of this," Cat added

A couple hours had passed. Incinerators flames were beginning to engulf him again. He stood up and began to move out of hiding and returning to his search for Kim. He knew that he would not be at the school and didn't know where to look from there. "I'll just burn everything in my path until I find him," Incinerator mumbled to himself, "and I'll need to avoid water."

As Incinerator stepped out of hiding, an annoyingly familiar voice rang to him. "You know an ice villain and a fire villain today, maybe you two should sing together. You know cause books."

Incinerator reared his head to look up at the muscular kid with his red hoodie. "KIM," he shouted out, immediately making his flames burn intenser than ever, and then chucked a large fireball at where Kim was standing. When the smoke faded, he flew up to see where Kim had been only to see nothing there.

"Hey hot head, you missed," Kim's voice rang across the gap that was between the buildings which perched Kim and Incinerator. Incinerator briefly thought of how Kim got over to the other building, but threw it out his mind as he took off in chase after Kim.

He chucked fireballs at Kim, but Kim simply kept dodging and jumping roof to roof. Briefly, Incinerator thought about how that was possible, but that was overshadowed by his pure rage.

"Come on I can't be that hard to hit," Kim yelled at the flying akuma, "or are you just that bad a shot."

"SHUT UP AND STAY STILL," Incinerator shouted. He continued throwing fireballs and every time he missed his flames burned brighter, every time Kim taunted his flames burned brighter, and every time.

"You know two akumas in one day, Hawk Moth must be trying to break a personal record." Kim shouted back at Incinerator.

"Ok that's enough Cat," Ladybug shouted.

Before he even had a chance to react, a red and black yoyo and a yellow and black trompo wrapped around him. Ladybug and Queen Bee had wrapped him up with their weapons.

"LET ME GO," Incinerator shouted, "I MUST DESTROY KIM!"

"Sorry but Kim's not here," Volpina said with a smile, and as she said that Kim stepped forward and the illusion wore off, changing him back into Cat Noir.

"WHAT! YOU TRICKED ME," Incinerator's flames got more intense as he said that.

"Well it wasn't that hard," Cat chuckled, "We knew that while you'd follow us, you probably wouldn't get near water because either you wouldn't want to get near it on your own accord or on Hawk Moth's orders, so we lured you here with the perfect bait."

"An exact replica of the person you're after, but we couldn't use a civilian, so we made a fake, provided by yours truly," Volpina chimed, "with the help of Cat's personal charm to make you more annoyed."

"And now we've got you where we need you," Ladybug added, "and we're gonna take your akuma."

Incinerator looked and realized that the building they were on was next to the waterfront. "HOW DARE YOU! TRICKING ME," Incinerator shouted, "I WILL BURN YOU ALL."

Before anyone had a chance to react, Incinerator blew. The light blinded all of the miraculous holders. by the time the light died, Incinerator had escaped the yoyo and trompo wrap he was in and was floating over the roof top, flames burning brighter than ever. "I DONT LIKE BEING TRICKED, FOR THAT YOU SHALL BURN!"

He began throwing fireballs across the roof aiming for the heroes. "BURN BURN BURN!", he shouted as fire spread across the roof.

"Well I think that went purrrrfectly," Cat quipped.

"Well time for plan b," Ladybug said, she then threw her yoyo in the air and shouted her signature, "LUCKY CHARM," and a small red sled with black dots landed in her hands, "a sled? What am I gonna do with this?"

"Figure it out fast before we become extra crispy," Cat shouted back.

Ladybug scanned the area and quickly came up with a plan. Now to put it into action. "Cat Noir, use cataclysm on the bottom of that billboard so the top hits the water. Queen Bee seal the bottom of the billboard to the building to make a ramp."

"Got it!" The two heroes said simultaneously, and went to work.

"CATACLYSM!"

"HONEY BEE!"

The top of the billboard landed in the water, splashing water onto the building. Incinerator fell to the roof as soon as the water hit him. Then the bottom of the billboard was covered in honey, preventing it from falling into the water completely.

"Ok Volpina," Ladybug shouted, "kick him onto the sled." Ladybug held the sled out in front of her.

"You got it girl," Volpina said. As Incinerator stood up, Volpina kicked him in the chest toward Ladybug and he landed with his back against the sled.

"Alright, time for a ride," Ladybug said as she rode the sled, while standing on top of Incinerator, down the billboard and into the water. Both her and Incinerator splashed into the water. Incinerator's flames completely died out, and Ladybug could see the one thing Incinerator had that Sam also had, Sam's sentimental jacket.

Ladybug quickly grabbed the unconscious Incinerator and dragged him safely to shore, then took off his jacket and ripped it open to reveal the small purple and black butterfly. "No more evil doing for you little akuma," she said as she opened her yoyo. "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE," With that she flung her yoyo at the akuma and locked it inside, only to release it purified and white saying, "bye bye little butterfly." With that she took her sled and threw it into the air, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" Like it always did, Ladybug's lucky charm burst into a wave of red and black, fixing all the damage that had been caused. She saw the billboard go back in place and the smoke from the rooftops die out. Finally the torn black jacket repaired itself so that is was once again in one piece.

"Where am I," Ladybug turned around to see Sam sitting up and looking around lost.

"You were akumatized," Ladybug explained, "It happens when people get mad or feel other negative emotions, a villain named Hawk Moth takes advantage of this and takes control of them. I'm sorry."

"I remember getting mad," Sam said, "bit out of character for me, but that jacket meant a lot to me." Sam's eyes went wide as he looked down and patted his body as if trying to find something.

"Looking for this," Ladybug asked, holding Sam's jacket in her hands. He smiled grabbed it and quickly put it back on and adjusted it.

"Thank you for helping me," Sam said, but his face quickly lost its smile, "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"No, everyone is fine," Ladybug said, "but I respect you caring for others."

"My lady," Cat Noir shouted jumping down to meet her, "we need to get out before we change back."

As if it were clockwork, Ladybug's earrings beeped and signaled that she only had a couple of minutes left. "Stay safe," Ladybug said to Sam before wrapping her yoyo around a nearby light pole and pulling herself away.

"I will," Sam said quietly as he stood up and stared at where ladybug jumped off to.

"Yesterday was chaotic," Chloe said as the miraculous holders walked into class, "can't we get a day off, just once. I think I'm getting split ends."

"Could be worse," Pollen said popping her head out of Chloe's jacket, "you could be getting wrinkles."

"Don't even joke about that Pollen," Chloe said in a mildly panicked voice.

Alya, Marinette, and Adrien all laughed at the brief interaction before they all took their seats.

"Alright class, settle down," Ms. Bustier said as she walked into class, "we have a lot to cover today."

As Ms. Bustier began writing on the board, Sam burst into class, "sorry I'm late, I had to take care of some stuff before class."

"Well I'll let it go," Ms. Bustier said, "just don't be disruptive."

"Yes ma'am," Sam said as he sat down.

The minute Ms. Bustier turned back to the board, Alya moved over to talk to Sam, "Hey, sorry about yesterday."

"It's fine, at least no one got hurt," Sam said with a forced smile, "and the whole scenario got my jacket fixed," .

"I meant for letting you do that in the first place. I knew what could happen if you lost but I let you go anyway," Alya continued with her apology, "I should've stopped you, especially considering you bet something sentimental."

"My dads jacket you mean," Sam said, "he gave it to me when I started my studies abroad, said it would give me luck. It was the only gift I ever got from my parents."

Alya gave a depressing look, "certainly don't sound like parents of the year."

Sam let out a dry laugh, "no they are not. they want the best for me, it's just their idea of the best is different from mine. They want me to run their company, that's why they sent me to study abroad."

"But you don't want to," Alya finished.

Sam shook his head, "I just wanna help people, to make them happy, that's why I try not to get mad or try not to hurt people."

Alya had a new found respect for the black jacketed teen.

"Ms. Cesaire," Alya jumped at Ms. Bustier calling her name, "please return to your seat and focus."

Alya got up to go back to her spot next to Marinette, but before leaving whispered in Sam's ear, "well you helped me by helping me make a new friend."

At these words Sam let out a small smile, this one not forced in anyway.

 **END**

This is not the end of my miraculous stories I am going to write more. This is just the first part


	2. The Blackbird

Miraculous: The Blackbird

The next couple of days went slow. No akumas or anything of the sort, Chloe happily enjoyed the couple days off though. Even the late night patrols of the miraculous holders weren't that eventful.

A week had passed since Incinerator attacked, absolutely nothing had happened since.

"Maybe Hawk Moth has given up," Adrien said as he and Marinette walked into school.

"We both know he wouldn't do that," Marinette replied, "he's probably just waiting for the right moment."

"HEY," Chloe shouted from the entrance to the school. She quickly ran down to meet Adrien and Marinette, "Did you two see the news last night." both of them shook their heads. Chloe sighed and pulled out her phone, pulling up the news article.

The article read _Mysterious new hero thwarts robbery._ Both Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, Marinette being the first to break the silence, "what new hero?"

Chloe shook her head, "no one knows, that is the only picture," Chloe pointed to the picture showing the new hero. He wore all black, black pants, black hoodie, black bandanna covering his face, and black goggles. although it was faint you could make the outline of feathers along his hoodie. "All people know is that he's been stopping minor crime the past couple nights, gas station robberies, petty theft, stuff like that. at first people thought it was us but then he was caught on camera. Police linked him to some other stuff over the past week because he always leaves a black feather whenever he stops someone."

"So what," Adrien asked, "he's taking care of small stuff while we deal with the akumas, no problem."

"It's a big problem," Marinette said, "we have powers, we have suits that protect us so that others can't hurt us. whoever this is could get extremely hurt."

"not to mention, it would get so boring waiting for the next akuma attacks with no crime for us to stop," Chloe added.

"You're the only one who cares about that, Chloe" Alya said as she walked up to the school.

"You here about this new hero," Chloe asked.

"Yeah, I wrote an article about him on the Ladyblog and asked people if they have any information," Alya answered, "so far nothing."

"Well we can focus on him or her later, right now we have class," Marinette cut in.

Everyone nodded in agreement and went off to class. All four of them walked into class and took their seats, with Adrien starting a conversation with Nino about the new superhero, seeing what he knew.

"Alright class, take your seats," Ms. Bustier said as she walked into class. As she began the lesson, Sam burst into class. "Late again Mr. Firgate, you've certainly made a bad habit about that."

"I'm sorry Ms. Bustier," Sam wheezed, out of breath, "it's just that my house is so far away."

"Well because you live far away I'm willing to excuse your tardiness," Ms. Bustier told him, "just try to hurry from now on."

"Yes ma'am," Sam said as he took his seat. Sam had been a little more distant since he had become Incinerator. The dark circles around his eyes had gotten worse and he kept falling asleep in class. While Alya occasionally tried to talk to him, he would cut the conversations short and run off. He clearly couldn't handle the idea that he had become a villain. Marinette and Chloe tried talking to him also, but they had no luck either.

"Alright class," Ms. Bustier, "enough distractions, let's get started."

The day seemed to drag on longer than any other for the miraculous team. They were all way to focused on the new hero and couldn't focus on school at all. Eventually school ended and the four took off as soon as class was over in order to transform.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Pollen, Stingers Out"

"Trixx, Tail up!"

"Alright everyone," Ladybug took charge, "we're going to have to split up and search for this new hero. Cat, go to the east, Queen, the west, Volpina, the south, and I'll go north. The minute you find him, call everyone else."

Everyone nodded in confirmation before taking off in their assigned directions.

It was starting to get dark. Cat knew that he had to head back soon. He was happy that his father is ok with him hanging out with Marinette, otherwise he wouldnt have an excuse for where he went after school. Cat is happy that he dates a aspiring fashion designer, otherwise his father might not be so okay with it.

Cat continued his search until night fell. The moment the sun went down, Cat sat down. He knew his father wouldn't like him out late at night. Then he heard the alarms. The alarms were nearby, so Cat thought it would be good to check them out.

Cat quickly found the source of the alarms, a small convenience store, but someone had beat him to the punch. Down on the street, standing in front of four tied up criminals, was the black hero placing one of his feathers in the knot.

"You know I really wanted to stop those guys," Cat shouted from the rooftop, "I've been sitting around all day and really could've used the exercise."

The hero looked up at Cat and with out a word, ran away.

Cat gave chase while pulling out his baton and switching it to comms mode, "I found the feather guy and in fight or flight, he obviously chose flight." Queen Bee groaned at that joke.

"Good job Kitty," Ladybug congratulated, "send us your location and we'll help in your pursuit."

"You got it my lady," Cat said, then tapped a couple points on his staff to send his location before hanging up and continuing his chase.

The feather hero ran taking every turn he could, occasionally trying to hide in the shadows but Cat Noir saw through that trick with help of his night vision. The hero eventually ran down a dead end, but instead of giving up, kicked off the walls until he got to the roof of the building in front of him. Cat paused briefly to admire the feat, but quickly pulled out his baton and used it to vault up to the roof. When Cat got up to the roof he looked around only to see nothing, he searched the alley on the other side of the building, but came up with nothing. The feather hero had disappeared.

Cat continued his desperate search, even jumping to nearby buildings and running down the alleys nearby to find nothing. When Cat finally gave up, the others showed up.

"Where is he," Volpina asked.

"He got away," Cat said while kicking some dirt on the roof, "he got on this roof and then disappeared."

"He had to go somewhere," Queen said, clearly desperate to find the feather man, "we could check nearby and see if we could find him."

Cat shook his head, "already tried, Blackbird has disappeared."

Ladybug gave him a look, "Blackbird."

Cat looked in the air with his hand on his chin, "well most of the guys we chase have names, so I decided to give him one. Seeing as wore all black and left black feathers as a calling card..."

"We get it Cat," Volpina interrupted, "I'm gonna check the building and the nearby ones to see if anything stands out."

"We can do that tomorrow," Ladybug interjected, "it's already late and we have school. We can find him tomorrow."

Everyone agreed and decided to try again tomorrow night. If Blackbird was out there, they'd find him.

The next day went slower than the last. Alya's search for anything interesting on the buildings came up with nothing, nothing but small office buildings for some major companies. Eventually school ended and the miraculous team searched again, and then the next day they did the same, as well as the next day, and the next. Blackbird managed to avoid the miraculous team at night. The team tried to get help from their kwamis, seeing if they could come up with any ideas on how they could catch him, Tikki could not come up with anything, only how he needed to stop before he got hurt, Plagg asked for Camembert, Pollen said that they shouldn't worry or they may get wrinkles, and Trixx pretended to sleep. Alya had the Ladybloggers posting any and all sightings of Blackbird, Chloe asked her father to have the police help making up some story about how she was saved by him and wanted to meet him, and Adrien would patrol during lunch, seeing as his father wouldn't let him stay out late anymore because he was worrying about what he was doing late at night, but Blackbird escaped them time and time again.

A nearly two weeks had passed after Cat Noir's encounter with Blackbird, and they haven't even run into him since. News reports appeared about Blackbird left and right, _Blackbird on rescue spree, Blackbird stops notorious thief gang, who is Blackbird._ The last one rang in their ears, like a constant barrage of bells.

"What are we gonna do," Adrien asked as the four walked to the movies, "every time we come close to Blackbird he disappears, and that's if we get close."

"You know we're going to the movies to get our minds off Blackbird right, Agreste," Alya told him, "we'll get him we just need to be patient."

"Not to mention I've been dying to see this movie," Marinette added, "I am not going to let some feather head ruin this for me. we've been looking for him for weeks I need a break." Marinette had been working the most out of all of them, Tikki would have to force her to go to bed and convinced her into taking a break.

The little red kwami popped out of Marinette's satchel, "I'm glad you're getting out Marinette, you've been working yourself to the bone. I'm glad you're taking a break."

"Well you were right, I needed it." Marinette smiled, and Tikki smiled back.

As the four walked to the movies, people ran past them in the other direction screaming. The miraculous team gave brief looks at each other before running towards the source of the chaos. When they got to where they were going they saw what the problem was, a new akuma. The akuma was large with gray skin and blue overalls with an orange shirt. He had hammers instead of hands and his fore head stuck out to create a third hammer.

"HAMMERHEAD CRUSH EVERYTHING," the akuma shouted as he ran his forehead through the building next to him.

"So much for a day off," Chloe said, "we're gonna need to stop him."

All of the miraculous holders nodded and ran off to find a place to transform. When they had successfully found empty alley they each let out their transformation phrases.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Pollen, Stingers Out!

"Trixx, Tail Up!"

The heroes all ran to where the akuma had been rampaging, but when they got to him he was joined by someone else. Jumping and dodging the attacks of the new akuma, was a hero in a black feathered hoodie.

"Blackbird!?" Ladybug was shocked at how the bird hero was fighting the akuma, but also at how he was keeping up and dodging the akumas attacks. Every time the akuma attacked, Blackbird dodged and then landed a light punch or kick, but it didn't hurt the akuma at all.

"HAMMERHEAD NO LIKE FEATHER MAN," The akuma shouted. Ladybug was able to tell the akumas name was Hammerhead by his habit of shouting in third person.

"We have to stop them," Ladybug said to the rest of team, "not only can Hammerhead cause destruction to the city, but Blackbird could get seriously hurt." With that, the heroes all jumped in and joined the fight.

"UHG, HAMMERHEAD NO LIKE PEOPLE INTERRUPTING," the akuma shouted, "HAMMERHEAD WILL JUST DESTROY YOU ALL, STARTING WITH FEATHER MAN." Hammerhead swung both of his arms at Blackbird, but he jumped back. Yet before Blackbird could land, Hammerhead swung his large head at the feathered hero. He would have been crushed if it wasn't for Cat Noir tackling the bird out of the way. While still carrying the bird hero in one arm, Cat pulled out his staff with his free hand and vaulted up to one of the nearby roofs.

"You need to stop," Cat said as he threw Blackbird onto the roof, "fighting petty criminals is one thing, but an akuma is different. My friends and I have powers. We have armor. We can handle it, but a guy in a black hoodie can't. Stop. NOW."

Blackbird slowly shook his head to symbolize no and began to walk past Cat Noir back towards where Hammerhead was fighting the other three miraculous heroes, but Cat extended his staff so it was blocking his path. "I normally don't get this serious," he said, "in fact I didn't care that you were stopping petty crimes, but then you fought an akuma. You put yourself in more danger than you can handle and you ARE going to get hurt. So I'll ask nicely one more time, stop, or I'll make you stop.

Blackbird replied the same way, a slow shaking of his head. There was a pause as the two just stared at each other, unblinking, unwavering.

Then Blackbird broke the tension. He kicked Cat in the chest, but it didn't affect him because of his suit. Cat spun his staff and hit the one leg on the ground, knocking over Blackbird. Blackbird kicked Cat hard on his chest with both legs, with enough force to launch Cat back, and then jumped off his back onto his feet and did a spinning kick, this time aiming for the one place not covered by the suit. Blackbird kicked cat hard in the face knocking him to the ground and forcing him to drop his staff. Blackbird went into a dive picked up the staff and rolled back onto his feet.

Blackbird spun the staff around his body before planting the end in the ground, signaling to Cat he knew how to use it. Blackbird began to walk over to Cat, but was interrupted by a red yoyo with black spots wrapping around Cat's staff and pulling it away from him. Before he could figure out what had happened a yellow trompo with black stripes wrapped around his body, preventing him from moving.

"You couldn't take on guy on your own, kitty," Ladybug taunted.

"Sorry, these suits don't protect our faces all that well," Cat said as he rubbed his cheek, "and he hits hard. What about the akuma?"

"Volpina's keeping track of him," Queen Bee answered, "when we saw you get kicked in the face, we decided to split our attention a bit."

Ladybug walked over and kneeled next to where Cat was now sitting, "I think this belongs to you." She handed Cat's staff back to him, "you okay?"

Cat put his staff back in its rightful place on the back of his belt, "yeah I'll be fine. Nothing seems to bad, so I don't have to explain how I ruined this perfect face."

Ladybug chuckled at that and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before diverting her attention toward the feathered man trying to wiggle his way out of Queen Bee's trompo, turning dead serious. She looked him in the face before pulling his hood off, then his bandanna, and finally his goggles, only to be met with familiar hazel eyes and brown hair with purple bangs.

"Sa...uh..." Ladybug realized she needed to play it off like she didn't know him to protect her identity, "You're the... uh... kid who was akumatized a couple weeks ago."

"The names Sam, and I'd like to be untied now." He said with a small smirk, "in case you forgot there's an akuma that I want to stop."

"OF COURSE," Queen Bee shouted, "Aly...I mean Volpina's search of the buildings from the first night we saw Blackbird, we didn't find anything because we were looking for abandoned buildings he could've hidden out in. We didn't consider that he could've gone in one of the office buildings, specifically the one he disappeared on top of belonging to Firgate Industries."

"Aww," Sam said giving her puppy dog eyes, "not only did you give me a nickname, Blackbird's pretty good in my opinion, but you also went out of your way to try to find me. I'm touched."

"Why would you do something so reckless," Ladybug asked, "you could've gotten hurt."

"Don't you remember, I only care if other people get hurt," Sam answered, "I could care less about myself, I thought you respected that about me."

"I do," Ladybug said, "but you have to respect that I don't want to see people hurt either, and that includes you."

"I just want to help people," Sam said, he hung his head a bit.

"But this isn't the way," Ladybug told him, "there are plenty of ways to help people, but without powers like ours, this one is extremely dangerous. I like that you care about people but you need to know which battles to fight. Do you understand."

"I guess," Sam said, "can I get untied now."

Queen Bee unraveled her trompo and let Sam go. He took off the black hoodie to reveal his normal black jacket underneath. He threw the hoodie off to the side. "I guess the idea was stupid anyways," he said as he pulled his glasses out of his jacket pocket, "trying to go all superhero when there already are some, guess I was just inspired by you."

Ladybug let out a smile and put her hand on his shoulder, "I appreciate that, but know that you could get hurt or worse. Do things within your own limitations. Now get to safety."

Sam nodded he ran off the roof and pulled off some wall sliding tricks to get down to the ground and ran off.

"Hey," Cat Noir called out to the other two, "Hammerhead is on the other side of Paris wrecking everything in sight. Volpina said she's having trouble keeping it under control, we gotta go."

Queen Bee and Ladybug nodded and took off letting Cat take the lead.

Sam kicked up a small amount of dirt as he walked home. He didn't want to admit it but Ladybug was right, he had no powers, what he did was dangerous stupid and reckless. He continued to kick up dirt until he came to an intersection. As he waited for the light to change he heard something behind him.

"Ladybug and team are still in battle with the new akuma, who is identifying himself as 'Hammerhead'," Sam turned around to see a news report of the battle going on, it wasn't going well, but what could he do. Even if he didn't give up on Blackbird and went back to help, he couldn't do anything. His punches and kicks were useless against that tank of an akuma. He couldn't do anything to help.

Sam turned back around to see that the light to cross hadn't changed yet, but that wasn't what caught his attention. Walking in the middle of the street was a short old man with a red Hawaiian shirt. Sam couldn't believe this old man was walking across the street without the proper signal, but his attention diverted from the old man to the car coming down the street. Sam reacted fast, jumping onto the street and picking up the old man right before the car could hit them. Sam made it to the other side of the street before falling over. "are... are you okay sir," Sam wheezed, tired from running at full sprint with the extra weight.

The old man let out a small smile, "yes I am, young man. Thank you very much."

"It was nothing," Sam said as he stood up, "just try to watch where you're going."

"I will," the old man said giving a slight bow, "is there anyway I can repay you, young man. Perhaps I could give you a feng shui reading, I happen to be good at those."

"No it's fine," Sam said as he dusted off his jacket, "I don't really like to help people for rewards."

"Then consider it a gift from a new friend," the old man said, "it would only take a minute, I insist."

Sam let out a sigh, "alright, just a minute."

The old man led Sam into the building behind him. Sam followed the old man up the stairs of the building until he reached the top floor. The old man led Sam down a hallway until they reached the end which had a single door at the end. The old man opened the door revealing a small room with pinkish reddish wallpaper. the room was basically empty except for a couple of cabinets here and there. The decoration had a Chinese feel to it, with bamboo designs covering various items from the small sections of the wallpaper near the ceiling, to the design on the small record player in the back of the room. He also had a small gong on top of one of his cabinets.

The old man gestured to a section of the floor toward the center of the room, "sit down, I'll make tea."

"Thank you," Sam smiled at the idea of a warm cup of tea.

After about ten minutes, the old man returned with a small platter holding two cups and a pot of tea. Sam could see steam coming out of the pot as the old man poured the two cups.

"Let's start the reading, shall we," the old man said as he finished taking a quick sip of the tea.

Sam nodded as he delightfully gulped down his tea. The old man took a long look at Sam as he drank his tea. "I can tell you're a very helpful person, you do it all because you care about other people."

"How'd you know that," Sam asked.

"When you helped me you said that you did not help people for rewards," the old man said, "this implies that you help people often and do it purely for the sake of others."

"oh," Sam said, "that makes sense."

"But there is more to this," the old man continued, "you act like a guardian to others, wishing to protect them from harm. You care more for the safety of others than your own."

Sam stopped drinking his tea and stared at it for a second, "Yeah, I like the idea of helping everyone I can," Sam said, "I convinced my parents to let me take some classes when I was young, gymnastics, parkour, martial arts. figured I could help people with my skills. I got expelled from my last couple of schools because I kept getting into fights with bullies."

"What you do is honorable," the old man said, "and your skills certainly make you a form of guardian. I should know, I'm a guardian of sorts myself."

"Guardian of what, if I may ask," Sam looked at the old man with a curious gaze.

"I'm afraid I can not say," the old man answered, "but I can say you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age, with the way you wish to help people. I see great things in your foreseeable future."

Sam let out a small smile at those words, for some reason this man made him feel better about himself. "Well I believe my minute is up," the old man collected the cups and put them on his little platter, "I suppose you should be on your way."

Sam stood up, "Yes you're right, thank you. You really made me feel better about myself."

"You're welcome," the old man said.

"You know you really helped me, and I don't even know your name," Sam said to the old man.

"ah," the old man stroked his small beard, "Most people call me Master Fu."

"Well thank you Master Fu," Sam said, giving a small bow as he left.

After Sam had left Master Fu let out a small sigh, "you really do remind of myself, and I believe you will make a great guardian. With the help of my friend of course." Fu then took the small platter back to the kitchen.

Sam got home a little later then he expected because of Master Fu, But he didn't care, not like anyone was there to greet him anyways. He walked into his tiny little one room house and turned on the TV, muting it, and turning on subtitles. He then walked over and put his phone on his music player, turning on the latest Jagged Stone album. He put his jacket on its hook and then grabbed his guitar and sat on his futon strumming along to the album while watching the latest news report.

Ladybug and her friends were still fighting Hammerhead. Sam didn't want to watch, but couldn't look away. He wanted to help, he wanted to do something. A loud crash made Sam jump.

Sam turned around to see that the hook he had his jacket on had fallen over. He put his guitar down to go pick up his jacket. He lifted the hook back up so it was standing and picked up his jacket, but as he did this something fell out of the pocket. Sam stared at it for a couple seconds before finishing hanging up his jacket and picking it up. The object was a small black box in the shape of a hexagon. The design on the top was some sort of red circular design, Chinese if Sam had to guess its origin. There was small red splotches along the side of the box. Sam sat back down placing the box on the table in front of him staring at it, trying to see if there was anything more to it, but more importantly trying to find out how it got in his jacket. There was nothing more to the box, it was just a box. Sam decided someone probably slipped it in his pocket when he wasn't looking, maybe someone who liked him.

Sam smiled, "well if it's a gift might as well open it." Sam opened the small box trying to think of what it could be, chocolates maybe, or possibly some new guitar picks. What he didn't guess was a small string bracelet with a blueish green turtle jewel. the bracelet certainly looked nice but it didn't really match his style.

Sam decided to at least try it on. He put it on his wrist and tied the ends together. He looked at it on his wrist, certainly not bad. Right before he was going to take it off, a bright green light began to shine out of the bracelet.

When the light died, Sam stopped to look around and let his eyes adjust back. "what was that," Sam asked himself.

"That light was caused by me exiting your miraculous," a mysterious voice said from behind Sam. Sam jumped and fell off his futon. When he got back up he turned around to see a small green turtle like thing with an antennae sticking out of the top of his head. Sam wanted to scream at the sight of the creature, but was far more fascinated than scared and his curiosity outweighed his fear. He began poking the small creature. "I would prefer if you did not do that," the creature said, causing Sam to jump back again.

"You CAN talk," Sam said in an astonished tone.

"Yes I am capable of speech," the green creature continued, "as well as other things."

"Amazing," Sam stared at the creature with mouth agape, "what are you?"

"I am what is known as a Kwami," The Green creature answered, "my name is Wayzz."

"Well then Wayzz, how did you get in my house," Sam asked.

"I appeared out of the miraculous that you currently bear on your wrist," Wayzz pointed at his bracelet with one of his little stub arms, "I am your aid in helping you unlock the bracelets powers."

Sam looked at the bracelet, "Powers? like what?"

Wayzz pointed at the TV still playing the report about Ladybug's fight, "Powers like theirs."

Sams eyes went wide, "you can make me a hero like them!"

Wayzz nodded his head. Sam smiled and opened his mouth to speak but couldn't come up with the words to describe how happy he was. Instead he just jumped up and down in happiness. When he finally calmed down he managed to rationalize himself enough to form words, "alright how do I do this, how do I activate my powers."

Wayzz held up his arm signaling for Sam to stop, "we need to go over what powers you have, at least the basics." Sam ushered toward the TV showing footage of the fight between Hammerhead and the other heroes, it was not going well. Wayzz stared at the screen for a second, watching the fight, "Very well I will explain quickly so we can get down there and help." Sam nodded in agreement.

Hammerhead had not given the heroes an inch. At first he focused on the buildings, trying to destroy as much as possible, but once Ladybug and Friends arrived he focused on them, trying to get their miraculous. Anytime one of the heroes got close to Hammerhead he would spin in circles creating a 'whirlwind of pain' as Cat Noir had put it. They had all been fighting Hammerhead for at least an hour. All of them to hesitant to use their powers seeing as they couldn't get close enough for it to be useful and if it didn't work they would just be restrained by time, so they kept fighting him the old fashioned way. They were all tired, meanwhile Hammerhead seemed to have energy to spare.

Hammerhead kept on the offensive. Any time one of the heroes stopped to take a rest, he would target that hero in particular. Their weapons would do nothing to him, Cat's staff and Volpina's flute just bounced off him, and when Ladybug tried to use her yoyo or Queen Bee tried to use her trompo to wrap up the akuma, and he would just use his sheer strength to pull them close to him, escape their ropes, and try to smash them into the floor, they would only barely dodge just in time. They had never had this much trouble with an akuma, but they had no way to get close.

"What are we gonna do," Queen Bee shouted as she dodged another hammer.

"Well I don't know about you," Cat Noir answered, "but I could really use a cat nap."

"We need to get close," Volpina shouted, "otherwise we won't be able to do anything."

"We can't get close," Ladybug replied, "getting to close means a hammer to the chest."

All of them knew they couldn't do anything from a distance, but it was impossible to get close. They just kept dodging.

"That's it," Queen Bee yelled, "we gotta do something." Queen went charging in, "HEY BLOCKHEAD OVER HERE!"

"QUEEN NO," Ladybug shouted.

Before she could stop him, Hammerhead turned towards Queen Bee shouting, "HAMMERHEAD CRUSH PUNY STRIPE LADY," and brought his hammer down on her, but Queen dodged last second then put her hand on the bottom of the hammer and shouted, "HONEY BEE," and suddenly golden layer covered the hammer sticking it to the ground. "YES," Queen bee shouted, doing a small dance, but her victory was cut short by Hammerhead breaking through her honey and knocking her onto the ground.

Queen Bee didn't have a chance to move before the hammer was brought down on her. She closed her eyes and waited for impact. All she could hear was her friends screaming, shouting her name, then there was a large clang of metal, then silence. Queen Bee kept her eyes closed waiting for the impact, but it didn't come. Queen slowly opened her eyes. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was a man in green standing above her.

He was holding a large hexagonal shield, wore a long green robe that went from the hood on his head down to coat tails at the back of his ankles. Queen could make out that the sleeves were separate from the robe he wore by the color, seeing as the sleeves were a brighter yellow while the chest of his robe was dark green with a yellow design across his chest and stomach. Around the waste of his robe was a yellow belt with a downward arrow design separating the the coat tails of his robe from the hood portion. He turned his head to look at Queen Bee so she could see his face. He wore dark green goggles with yellow lenses but that's all that stood out about his face.

He gave a small smirk and talked to Queen Bee, "sorry I'm late stripes, but I needed to figure out how these knew powers worked."

Queen Bee stared in shock as he held up the hammer with his shield. "Who are you," she asked.

He laughed a bit before he gave his answer, "well isn't it obvious? I'm the Jade Turtle."

 **END**

More soon, I just need a break I've been spending the past couple of days writing this and I need to do other things. after a short break I'll get back to writing this. Also any fan art of Sam or Jade Turtle is appreciated especially if you send me a link to it, I'd do it myself but I can't draw.


	3. Brain Power

Brain Power

The new hero stood over Queen Bee, using a shield to hold up Hammerhead's hammer. The hero, identifying as the Jade Turtle, was clearly extremely strong, seeing as he could hold up the hammer and every time the akuma pushed down, the Turtle would push it back up. "You should probably move Stripes," the Turtle told Queen Bee. Queen Bee shook her head and realized she was still on the ground, and quickly got back up on her feet and moved away from Turtle and Hammerhead.

The minute Queen moved away, Turtle pushed the hammer away and slammed his shield into Hammerhead's chest sending him flying back. "Sorry blockhead," Turtle said, "I know you're not doing this cause you want to, but I can't let you go on with your little rampage."

Hammerhead stood up, "HAMMERHEAD CRUSH SHELL MAN." Hammerhead charged at Turtle swinging his hammer, but Turtle just bounced it off his shield, and then sent him flying again.

Ladybug shook herself out before asking what was on everyone's mind, "who are you?"

Jade Turtle let out a small laugh, "I already told you, I'm the Jade Turtle. I'm here to help you out Red."

"Red? My name is Ladybug," she told him.

"Well I'm calling you Red," Turtle let out a small smirk, "Now Red we need to figure out where his akuma is so we can stop him."

"Turtle here is right," Cat added, "We need to focus on the akuma, starting with where it is."

"It would help if we knew who the guy was," Volpina said, "then we'd be able to figure out what he had on him before he was akumatized."

"Well," Turtle said, "this may just be a guess, but isn't it likely that it's in that hammer on his belt." Turtle pointed at Hammerhead's belt, specifically the small mallet with a purple handle.

"Good eye," Ladybug complimented, "so let's get that hammer. Now all we need is a plan."

"I'll keep him busy while you come up with a plan," Turtle said, then gestured at Cat Noir, "think you can give me a hand Cat."

Cat nodded in confirmation and the two went charging in and kept Hammerhead busy. Ladybug and Volpina began brainstorming with Queen Bee quickly running over to join them. "We need to figure out how to get his akuma," Queen Bee said.

"We've at least figured out it's in his hammer so we can go from there," Volpina told Queen.

"Well at least we can work from there," Ladybug said, "my yoyo doesn't have a place where I can wrap around the hammer, so only one option left." Ladybug threw her yoyo into the air and shouted, "LUCKY CHARM."

The moment Ladybug shouted those words, a small horse shoe landed in her hands, "lucky charm hasn't failed me before." She began scanning the area searching for any thing that could be of use, and quickly came up with a plan.

She began giving orders to execute her plan, "Turtle, Cat, try to holding down his arms." Both nodded as Ladybug continued with her plan, tying her yoyo to one end of the horseshoe. Turtle and Cat had executed their orders perfectly, with Turtle using Cat's staff to push Hammerhead's arms down behind him. Hammerhead not being able to pull his arms free shouted at Turtle. Ladybug threw her horseshoe and ringed it around the hammer. "Bullseye," Ladybug shouted. She then pulled hard but the horseshoe came off of the hammer and fell to the ground. At this, Hammerhead swung his body forward, using the hammer on his head to smash the horseshoe and the weight of his body to send Turtle and Cat flying. Hammer head then charged forward aiming at Ladybug, and Ladybug had no chance to move.

Before anything else could happen Turtle stuck out his hand and shouted, "REWIND," and before he knew it he was back behind Hammerhead holding his arms down. Ladybug tied her yoyo around the end of the yoyo but then heard a shout from Turtle, "RED, TIE THE TROMPO TO THE OTHER END OTHERWISE IT WILL JUST SLIDE OFF THE HAMMER."

Ladybug didn't know how he knew that, but listened anyway. "Queen hand me your trompo," she said. Queen Bee handed over the small top and Ladybug proceeded to tie the small top to the other end of the horseshoe and threw it at the hammer, landing it exactly where she wanted. "Bullseye," Ladybug shouted. She then pulled hard on her yoyo and the trompo, pulling the hammer out of the belt onto the floor infront of Ladybug. Ladybug immediately stomped down on the handle of the hammer, releasing the small purple and black butterfly. "No more evil doing for you little akuma," Ladybug said before throwing her yoyo at the butterfly shouting, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE." She caught the small butterfly in her yoyo and brought it back to her. She then opened the yoyo releasing the small white butterfly, "bye bye little butterfly." She finally picked up her horse shoe and threw it to the air shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG." Like magic the horseshoe burst into a wave of black and red fixing all the damage that Hammerhead had caused.

Jade Turtle stared as all the damage disappeared, "that's... that's..."

"Miraculous," Queen Bee finished for him.

"Well I was gonna say amazing," Turtle added, "but what you said works too."

"Where am I," a mysterious voice said. Turtle looked down to see a construction worker sitting where Hammerhead had been.

"Pound it," the four other heroes said as they all fist bumped together. Turtle got ready to take his leave before he got stopped.

"Where do you think you're going," Volpina asked.

"Well," Turtle looked up, "I was gonna leave and let you guys do your thing."

"You helped us," Cat said, "and you clearly are a part of this team, seeing as you got a miraculous and all."

"Yeah," Ladybug added, "so you can't leave until you fist bump with the rest of us."

Turtle let out a small smile, "alright." He put his shield on his back and put his right arm into the fist bump with the rest of them.

As soon as he put his arm in, his bracelet beeped and one of the small hexagons on it disappeared.

"Weird," Volpina said looking at the bracelet, "I don't remember you using your power?"

"Well technically I didn't," Turtle said, rubbing the back of his neck, "it's long, complicated and boring. Let's just say I did a do over. Anyway got to run."

Before anyone could object Turtle ran off and jumped on top of the nearest building and bolted off.

Before they could go after him, Queen Bee's haircomb and Ladybug's earrings let out a similar beep.

"We better get out of here before time runs out," Ladybug said. Everyone nodded and all of them ran off.

Jade Turtle slipped in through the window of the small house, and as he did so the last hexagon on his bracelet disappeared, changing him back to Sam.

Wayzz popped out of the bracelet, looking tired. Sam looked at Wayzz with anticipation, "well?"

Wayzz gave a slightly puzzled look, "well what."

"Well," Sam said, "not bad for my first time going hero right."

Wayzz looked down and closed his eyes in thought, "well you did protect your allies adequately, as well as using your rewind in an appropriate manner. I personally think you did very well."

Sam jumped and cheered, "I rocked it." Sam continued his little victory dance until Wayzz signaled him to stop.

"You did do well for your first time," Wayzz complimented, "but we've only covered the basics of your powers, there is still much to learn."

Sam looked at the little kwami, "ok where do we start?"

The kwami gave a slight look to Sam, "well after using your rewind power, I need to recharge by eating."

"Ok," Sam said walking over to the small kitchen in the corner of his house, "what do you eat?"

Wayzz looked at the ceiling lost in thought, "I never had a specific favorite meal, always preferring to keep my mind open to new tastes. Simply give me anything you have."

"Well that makes things easy," Sam said as he pulled a small bag of potato chips out of his pantry, opened it, and handed it to Wayzz.

"Hmm," Wayzz stared at the bag for a second, "I do not believe I have had these." Wayzz pulled a chip out of the bag, sniffed it, and took a small bite. Wayzz's eyes went wide and he immediately gobbled down the chip. "Mm, the crunchiness is amazing, the saltiness is delicious, I change what I said I officially have found a favorite meal!" Wayzz reached in the bag and grabbed some more chips.

Sam laughed to himself a bit as the small kwami ate the chips happily. "Okay you've eaten a bit," Sam said as the kwami kept eating, "can you tell me more about my powers?"

Wayzz finished eating his chips and licked his hands, "yes yes, of course. Let us start with your strength and go from there."

The miraculous team decided to go to Marinette's house, seeing as Hammerhead had ruined their trip to the movies. Adrien and Marinette were playing _Ultimate Mecha Strike III,_ Marinette currently winning 5-0, Alya sat on the computer updating the Ladyblog with the information of Hammerhead's attack, and Chloe sat on her phone, not really interacting with it, just staring at it.

Chloe broke the silence. "Who do you think he is, this Jade Turtle guy."

Marinette thought long and hard about the question before answering, "probably someone Master Fu deemed worthy of a miraculous. He could just be some random kid."

Tikki popped out, "it is not just some random kid. He bore the turtle miraculous, the miraculous normally worn by the guardian. Master Fu personally wore it, until now that is."

"So he's the new guardian of the miraculous," Alya asked as she turned away from the computer.

Trixx popped out from Alya's shirt pocket, "yep, but knowing Fu he probably didn't tell the kid, slipping the miraculous in his pocket when he wasn't looking." Trixx let out a sigh, "would've been funnier if he put a firecracker or a stink bomb in his pocket."

"This is serious Trixx," Pollen added, "that means whoever this is has full reign over who gets the miraculous. If he decides that the miraculous aren't safe with who currently has them he could... he could."

Chloe patted Pollen on the head, "don't worry, we're way to good at what we do to be replaced, plus that's the kind of worrying that gives a kwami wrinkles."

Pollen let out a tiny shriek and then felt her face, "do I have wrinkles oh no, quick get me some moisturizer."

Chloe laughed and pulled a small container of moisturizer out of her bag and handed it Pollen, who quickly rubbed it over her face.

"I don't get why you're worried," Plagg said as he stuffed some Camembert in his mouth, then proceeding to talk with his mouth full, "you really think Wayzz would let this new kid replace our chosen."

"Wayzz," Adrien asked trying to remember where he heard the name before.

"It's the kwami that was always near Master Fu when we would go to his place," Marinette answered, "don't you remember?"

Adrien thought for a second, "yeah I remember him now."

Suddenly a door could be heard closing down in the bakery. "Marinette," the voice of Madame Cheng rang up the stairs. Quickly all of the kwamis took their respective hiding places.

Madame Cheng walked through the door into the living room to see the four teenagers sitting around. "Marinette I thought you and your friends were going to the movies," Madame Cheng said staring at the four teenagers.

"We were mom," Marinette replied, "But an akuma attacked, so we came here."

"ah," Madame Cheng let out her bright smile, "well I'm glad you're safe, and your friends are always welcome. I'm going to get started on dinner. your friends are welcome to join us."

"Thanks mom," Marinette smiled at her, "By the way, Where's dad?"

"He'll be home later," Madame Cheng answered, "he should be home before dinner."

"Ok mom," Marinette replied.

"Well," Adrien said as he stood up, "I better get going before Nathalie blows a vessel, plus I'm sick of losing."

"Me too," Chloe said, "daddy is probably worried about me, last time I was out to late, he mobilized the entire police force."

"Couldn't you just told him where you were," Alya asked.

"I did," Chloe replied as she and Adrien walked out the door.

"and what about you," Marinette asked as she turned toward Alya.

"You think I'm gonna leave before I get some of your moms delicious cooking," Alya said, "Hammerhead must've hit you pretty hard."

Marinette laughed, then the two went upstairs.

"You couldn't have waken me up Wayzz," Sam said as he rushed to get his stuff together.

"I did not realize that you wished to be woken up early,"Wayzz said from the makeshift bed Sam had made, "you should've informed me of this last night."

"I didn't have a chance to tell you last night because of your four hour explanation about how my powers worked," Sam said as he put his work in his backpack, "and it didn't help that you gave that explanation twice."

"I would not have to had to explain it to you twice if you had answered my quiz correctly," Wayzz lectured.

"What about my alarms, I had three set," Sam was getting slightly mad, "yet you turned them all off."

"Being woken up unnaturally is not good for your health," Wayzz explained, "plus you need to get a full eight hours of rest."

"So let's go down the list," Sam said as he put on his jacket, "you kept me up late, turned off my alarms, and now I got," Sam stopped to look at his watch, "10 minutes to get to school. I can't make it to school in that time."

"Well I am very sorry," Wayzz said as he looked down, "if there is anyway I can make it up to you."

"Well unless you can help me get to school on time," Sam stopped and stared at Wayzz, "except you can help me get to school, one of my powers is increased speed and agility right."

"No," Wayzz said, "this is not how your powers are meant to be used."

"You said anyway you could make it up," Sam said pointing a finger at Wayzz.

Wayzz sighed, "very well, but only this once."

Sam let out a smile before shouting out his transformation phrase.

"Wayzz, Shell Up!"

With a flash of green light, Sam became the Jade Turtle. Turtle slipped grabbed his backpack, slipped out his window into the alley, and jumped to the rooftops. Turtle went into full sprint trying to get to school in time.

Along the way, Turtle heard sirens. He looked and saw a car chase coming his way. Turtle quickly looked at a nearby clock, five minutes to school starts. Turtle let out a hefty sigh and jumped down pulling out his shield and landing on in front of the car, bashing the front of the car with his shield. The cops pulled over and began pulling the crooks out of the car. Turtle pulled his hood in a motion similar to the tipping a hat, then jumped back to the rooftops. Turtle looked at the clock, three minutes left. Turtle went back to full sprint. two minutes left with school in sight. He jumped to the back alley where he transformed back. He let Wayzz fly into his inside jacket pocket. He quickly ran through the school entrance and up the stairs. He stopped right before the door and walked in slowly as if nothing had happened.

Sam took his seat at the front of the class and went into his standard position with his knee on his desk. He was enjoying the peace when someone sat down next too him. "Chloe Bourgeois, as I live and breathe," Sam said, "To what do I owe the pleasure."

"I saw you on the rooftop with Ladybug," Chloe said, "with your weird black getup."

Sam looked at his feet, "Yeah, Ladybug didn't like me doing that to much, said it was dangerous and only people with powers should go up against an akuma."

"She's right you know," Chloe said, "those akuma guys have powers and going against them without your own is dangerous. trust me, There was a point where a lot of those guys would go after me, it's not safe."

"Don't worry I already put that stuff behind me," Sam said, "Ladybug put that in perspective for me. Don't worry, I'm not putting on that hoodie again. I prefer my jacket anyway."

Chloe laughed, "alright," she then stood up and went back to her seat, She sat down and whispered to Marinette, "he's sincere, I could here it in his voice and see it in his eyes. He won't go to Blackbird again."

Marinette nodded, "alright if you say so , but I'm gonna keep an eye on him."

Chloe nodded and sat back down as Ms. Bustier walked into class.

"Alright, class please settle down," Ms. Bustier, "And Mr. Firgate please put your phone away." Sam was reading something on his phone, but no one could make out quite what it said. "Mr. Firgate," Ms. Bustier said, "I will not ask a third time. Put your phone away." Sam continued reading. "Mr. Firgate," Ms. Bustier yelled this time, and this made Sam jump, "please head to see Mr. Damocles this instant."

Sam looked at his watch, "Hey three minutes, new record." Sam picked up his stuff and walked to the principles office.

Wayzz popped out of Sam's jacket, "why didn't you put your phone away, would that not have been easier."

"It would've, but check this out," Sam said as he pulled out his phone and showed it to Wayzz. It was an article about the Jade Turtle helping to stop Hammerhead. "News travels fast, it focuses entirely on us. Even the picture is me holding Hammerhead's hammer with my shield."

"Do not let the fame go to your head," Wayzz said as he read the article, "your pride can be your downfall."

"Don't worry Wayzz," Sam said as he stopped at Damocles' door, "I just think I can enjoy getting a news article, besides I enjoy helping people. Anyway hide, I don't want Damocles to see you."

Wayzz slipped back into Sam's pocket. Sam knocked on the door, no answer. Sam waited a minute before knocking again, no answer. Sam opened the door to see that Damocles wasn't there. "Hello Mr. Damocles," Sam walked in looking around the room, only to see it was empty. He decided to walk behind the desk to see if anything was there, and his eye got caught on Mr. Damocles' computer."

Sam read the page to himself, " _Mr. Damocles, due to recent events that have happened transpired in your school, the board has decided to go a different direction and terminate your position. Please clean out your office so we can move your replacement into his new position. From, Harold Girago, head of the board._ Harsh way to fire someone."

Wayzz popped back out, "Sam, this could be bad. From what it sounds like, Mr. Damocles likely would have gotten mad or upset which could lead to.."

"an akuma," Sam finished, "well, it's a good thing no one will question if I'm gone since I got sent to the principles." Sam closed the door and opened the window before transforming.

"Wayzz, Shell Up!"

Jade Turtle jumped out the window and began running along the rooftops. "Alright, now if I can find the building where the school board meets, I'll probably find Damocles. Now where could that possibly be." Turtle saw someone on the street and shouted, "HEY," the person jumped and looked up, "YOU KNOW WHERE THE SCHOOL BOARD BUILDING IS?"

she typed something in her phone,"THEY MEET AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL IN THE BOARD ROOM," she shouted back, showing her phone despite the distance.

Turtle made a hat tipping motion with his hood, "THANKS. AND CAN YOU PUT A MESSAGE FOR LADYBUG AND THE OTHERS ON THE LADYBLOG. TELL THEM TO MEET ME THERE." The woman nodded, and began typing in her phone again. Turtle began running off in search of the middle school.

Ms. Bustier had continued class as normal without Sam, giving her normal history lecture as everyone took notes. It was boring and slow like always. all of a sudden there was a simultaneous buzz coming from Adrien's, Chloe's, Alya's, and Marinette's phones. Each of them read what it said, _goggled guy requesting assistance from ladybug and friends at Paris middle school,_ Alya looked at Marinette. "You don't think it's Jade Turtle asking for help," She asked, "do you?"

Marinette thought for a second, "Maybe he could've tried reaching us through comms, but since we weren't transformed it didn't go through. Either way we might need to check it out, could be an akuma."

Alya nodded in agreement, "alright follow my lead." Alya then fell out of her chair. Marinette ran over to help her up.

Marinette put a hand to Alya's head, "you're burning up Alya, you need to see the nurse."

"No, I'll be fine," Alya said as she tried to stand on her own but fell over again.

"Marinette," Ms. Bustier said, "please take Alya to the nurse and make sure she's alright."

"Yes Ms. Bustier," Marinette said as she helped Alya to the door giving Chloe and Adrien a wink as she left, both of them knowing what this meant.

Marinette carried Alya until they were downstairs and out of sight of Ms. Bustiers class, then ran out the front entrance of the school into a nearby alley to transform.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

"Trixx, Tail up!"

Ladybug and Volpina took to the rooftops quickly running toward the middle school

The middle school wasn't anything that special in Turtles mind. It had some gates but other than that looked like a standard school. There were kids there, probably because it still was school hours. He was about to go searching for the board room but was stopped by a voice.

"So it was you," Turtle turned around to see Volpina and Ladybug, Volpina being the one talking, "when it said goggled guy asking for our help, we took a big risk coming here on the off chance it was you."

"Asked some woman on the streets to post that," Turtle replied, "guess I should've given her my name."

"Probably," Ladybug added, "so what's the problem?"

"Well Red," Turtle said with a smile, "I got some intel from an anonymous source on a guy named Damocles possibly being akumatized. I went to his office and found an email open about how he got fired by the head of the school board. Some guy named Harold Gi... Ga..."

"Harold Girago," Volpina said, "He's been creating his idea of a perfect school system and getting rid of anyone who gets in the way of that idea, but why did you come here?"

"Was told that this is where the board meets," Turtle said, "seemed like a good place to start."

"The board only meets in the afternoon," Volpina explained, "and only every so often."

Turtle thought for a second, "that would make more sense, but if that's the case, then where do we find Girago. I mean Damocles has to be going after him right, since he fired him and all."

"Probably at his house," Ladybug said, "it seems like the most likely place."

"Ok so where's his house," Turtle asked.

Ladybug thought, "I guess we're back to square one."

"Well," Turtle said, "if we don't know where to find Girago, then neither does Damocles, so he'd go where he could find out. Somewhere where all of the information about board members would be."

"Like the school district building," Volpina finished, "all the information of the board members has to be there."

"Then that's where we'll go," Ladybug said, "Volpina lead the way."

Volpina nodded and took off with Turtle and Ladybug close behind. The three moved along the rooftops as fast as they could. They kept running until Volpina stopped and the others followed suit, "There it is."

It was a large building, kind of like an office. "Alright," Turtle said rubbing his hands together, "we go in, find where Girago is, keep track of him until Damocles shows up, easy."

"Unfortunately," Volpina said, "I think Mr. Damocles beat us to the punch." She pointed down at the front of the building where people were running out. The three looked at each other and then jumped down to run in. The minute they went through the front door, a barrage of objects came flying at them. Turtle bashed the objects away with his shield. The heroes looked to see a large man floating in the center of the room wearing a black and purple outfit with a brain on his chest.

"Where may I find Harold Girago," the villain shouted, "I wish to speak with him."

"Guess we found Damocles," Ladybug said, "Now to stop him."

"I'm on it," Turtle went charging in and slid under the flying villain to get on behind him, "HEY OWL FACE!"

The villain turned around to face Turtle, "How dare you insult me. Let Brain Power teach you a lesson." He aimed his hand at a cabinet, making it float off the ground and threw it at Turtle, who bashed it with his shield.

"Great he has telekinesis," Turtle said, "plus Brain Power is such a lame name for a villain." He then threw his shield at Brain Power, but the akuma used his power to catch the shield and threw it back. Turtle caught his shield, "neat trick but try this one," Turtle threw his shield again, this time missing Brain Power.

"Your trick is terrible, you missed," Brain Power mocked.

Turtle gave a smirk, "that's the thing about a magic shield," as he said the words the shield hit brain power in the back of the head, then Turtle jumped and caught his shield using it to bash Brain Power against the wall, "it always comes back to me."

"Careful," Ladybug said, "he is still a normal person, Hawk Moth gave him powers. He's still good inside."

"Don't worry," Turtle said as he walked over to Brain Power, "I just needed to knock him out so I could search him for his akuma." Once he finished this sentence, Turtle began to float off the ground, "well either he's not unconscious or I just found out I can fly." Turtle got sent flying across the room into a wall, "definitely not unconscious."

Ladybug and Volpina charged forward, weapons ready, but Brain Power picked up Volpina and threw her against Ladybug.

"Ow," Ladybug picked herself up and looked over to see Brain Power reading a computer screen.

"I have what I need," Brain Power said, he picked up the desk and threw it towards Ladybug and Volpina but they both jumped out of the way.

Brain Power was heading out the door, when from the top of the door, a pair of black leather boots came down and kicked Brain Power in the chest.

"Sorry for the delay my lady," Cat Noir said as he dropped down into the doorway, "but ditching the way you did would have been CAT-astrophic."

Turtle sat up, "Great now my body and my brain hurts, thanks Cat."

"We don't have time for this you two," Queen Bee said as she walked in behind Cat, "We need to stop the akuma."

"He's calling himself Brain Power, Stripes," Turtle said prepping his shield.

"Lame name," Cat said as he extended his baton.

"I know right," Turtle said, but then floated off the ground, "not again."

"You two think so similar," Brain Power said, "maybe I should bring you closer together." He swung Turtle across the room and slammed him into Cat.

"Ow," Turtle said, "my everything."

"Guys, he's gone," Ladybug said as she and Volpina got up, "We need to find him, before he gets to Girago before we do, he could cause some serious damage."

"Who's Girago," Queen Bee asked, Helping Turtle off of Cat.

"Brain Power's target," Volpina answered, "Brain Power was a Mr. Damocles, until Girago fired him, now he wants revenge."

"Well how do we find Brain Power before he finds Girago," Turtle said as he shook the dust off of his robe.

"Well why don't we find Girago and cut Brain Power off," Ladybug suggested.

"Then let me reiterate," Turtle said, "how do we find Girago before Brain Power."

"one, that's not what reiterate means," Ladybug said, "two we just look at the computer he was looking at." Ladybug gestured, at the desk that was thrown at her, more specifically the cracked screen.

"Great," Queen Bee said, "now one of just needs to learn to read cracked screen."

"The screen's broken," Ladybug said, "but the computer itself isn't." She walked over and grabbed a different screen and hooked it up to the computer. The image came through perfectly showing exactly what Brain Power was looking at, a file on Girago.

"We know where to look," Ladybug said, "Cat, Turtle, go to the address on the screen and protect Mr. Girago, stop Brain Power if he shows up. The rest of us are gonna try to catch up to him and try to help civilians along the way." The Cat and Turtle nodded and ran out the door. "Alright girls," Ladybug said with her signature confidence, "let's go stop the akuma."

"Big house," Cat said as he and Turtle walked up to giant building.

"You kidding," Turtle replied, "it's more like a mansion."

Cat laughed, "trust me when I say mansions are much bigger."

The two walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. An old man with gray hair and a stuck up face with a pencil 'stache in a black suit with a white shirt and a red tie opened the door, "May I help you?"

Turtle gave a small bow, Cat followed suit, "we are looking for a Harold Girago?"

The old man gave them a skeptical look, "you are speaking to him."

Cat stood up, "good, I'm Cat Noir and this is my associate Jade Turtle. You have unintentionally angered someone and now they're an akumatized villain trying to destroy you. So until we're told differently, we are your personal bodyguards." Cat gave another bow, this time Turtle followed suit.

"I do not need protection," Girago replied.

"I can not tell you how many times I've heard that," Cat said as he let himself in, "and how many times those people have been wrong." Turtle walked in behind Cat shrugging his shoulders as he walked past Girago.

"Very Well," Girago said as he closed the door, "but please do not make a mess."

"don't worry," Cat said, "I'll keep the rookie in check."

Turtle gave him a look, "Rookie?"

"Well you are new," Car Noir said as they walked into the living room.

"I can already say I am more skilled than you," Turtle said as he sat on the chair with his legs on one arm of the chair, back to the other, and resting his arm on the back of the chair.

"Oh yeah," Cat said as he turned on the tv and flipped to the news looking for anything on Ladybug, "I know fencing and Karate, what about you?"

"That stuff, plus Jiu-Jitsu, Bo-Jitsu, and Kendo," Turtle said with a sly smile.

"Ok, well I speak French, English, and Chinese," Cat said.

"French, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean," Turtle said as he picked up something off the coffee table.

"I play piano,"Cat said.

"Guitar," Turtle replied.

"Maybe you're skilled," Cat said, "but you're still a rookie."

"Alright," Turtle said as he put down the small trinket.

Cat sat down on the couch and watched the news. No reports of the akuma attack yet, instead a report about Prince Ali and the affairs of the kingdom of Achu.

"Don't suppose any anime is on," Turtle said, looking at the tv.

"Not this time of day, it's normally on later at night," Cat answered, "but you can probably stream it on your communicator."

Turtle sat up in his seat, "What communicator?"

Cat pulled out his baton and flipped it open to reveal a small screen, "we all have comms on our weapons."

Turtle pulled the shield off his back, and started messing with it, "really? I wasn't told about that." He then started bashing his shield with his fist.

Cat laughed, "here, I'll call you with my baton." Cat pressed a couple of buttons to make the call. When he went to do so Turtle's information already had been entered, similar to what happened when Volpina and Queen Bee joined the team.

The second Cat placed the call, a small ringing came from Jade Turtle's direction, but it didn't come from his shield, it came from his goggles. The lenses had switched from yellow to bright green, and a small pinging rang on from the goggles. Turtle grabbed his goggles and rubbed his hands around them until he found a small button and pushed it, making an image of Cat Noir appear on the lenses. "Cool," Turtle said, his voice echoing onto Cat's baton, "I have radio goggles."

"Aw," Cat groaned, "and all my mask does is give me night vision."

"Wonder what else it can do," Turtle said as he pressed buttons on his goggles. Suddenly his goggles opened up the internet, "neat." He kept pushing buttons until he got to some website and had some anime playing.

"come on man," Cat Noir Complained, "You're not gonna share?"

"Hang on," Turtle pressed more buttons until eventually his goggles projected the image onto the flat wall. Turtle turned his head but the image remained on the wall, "guess it sticks to a flat surface?"

"Guess so," Cat said as the two sat down and watched an anime about pirates, but Cat didn't watch completely. Cat focused on the news waiting for any info on his lady.

Brain Power wasn't hard to find, all they did was just follow the path of destruction. Ladybug, Volpina, and Queen Bee caught up to him quickly seeing as he didn't cause to much damage for them to control, just enough for them to find him. "Alright Brain Power," Ladybug yelled from the rooftops, Brain Power turned to face her.

"Ladybug, I do not have time for you," Brain Power shouted back. Suddenly a purple butterfly design appeared in front of Brain Power's face which one thing, Hawk Moth wasn't happy. When the design disappeared, Brain Power turned to face Ladybug and her allies. "I guess I must take care of you now," Brain Power Yelled up at them, "I'll try to make this easy. Give me your miraculous and I will not have to hurt you."

"Sorry old man," Queen Bee shouted back, "but this comb compliments my hair to much for me to give it too you."

"Then we shall do this the hard way," Brain Power used his power to pick up a car and throw it at the heroines. all of them managed to jump away before the car hit.

Volpina landed closest to Brain Power and charged at him with her reed flute in hand. Brain Power lifted her up and slowly brought her closer to himself. Brain Power suddenly got tied up in a whirl of yellow and black, Queen Bee got him. Then Ladybug saw his weakness, when he tried to lift up Queen Bee he couldn't and then got angry before simply throwing Volpina at her, knocking the two against the wall and untangling the trompo around him.

Ladybug shared her discovery, "He can only control one object at a time, that's why he couldn't pick both of you up at the same time.

Suddenly Ladybug was up off the ground. "So you figured out my shortcomings," Brain Power said as he held her up, "congratulations, but you still will not be able to stop me." Brain Power threw Ladybug against the other two heroines, who caught her.

"So what's the plan," Queen Bee said as she helped Ladybug on her feet.

"give me a sec," Volpina said as she typed away at her comms, "I got an idea but we need Cat and Turtle."

"I'm almost scared to ask," Ladybug said, "but what's your plan?"

"Overload him," Volpina said, "he can't keep track of five heroes all at once."

"You're not gonna bring them here," Queen Bee said with concern in her voice, "what if he slips past the five of us somehow? who will protect Girago?"

"That's why they're not coming to us," Volpina said, "We're going to them."

"That sounds worse," Ladybug said, "how are we gonna get him there before he crushes us with a car or something."

"By getting him to focus on something else," Volpina said, "found it." Volpina closed her comms and slammed the end of her staff into the dirt. "ILLUSION," Volpina shouted, making an illusion of an old man with a stuck up face and a pencil mustache in a black suit appeared. "Hey Brain Power," Volpina shouted, "look it's Girago." Volpina pointed toward the illusion she made.

Brain Power turned his attention away, following the illusion with anger in his eyes. "There now we just need to stop him at Girago's place," Volpina said, "along with the full team's help."

"You just sent a super villain towards a civilians house," Queen Bee said, "and put yourself on time limit in hopes that five heroes would do better than three."

"not to mention you want us all to go in without knowing where his akuma is," Ladybug said.

"It's in the glasses Brain Power's wearing," Volpina said, "Damocles never wore glasses, plus it's the only part of his costume that stands out."

"You sure," Ladybug asked.

"Positive," Volpina said with confidence.

"Then we need to get them," Ladybug said, "I'll get the guys on comms and warn them about Brain Power,"

Cat and Turtle hadn't moved much. Occasionally one of them would go to make sure that Girago was okay but other than that they stayed still. Cat eventually broke the silence, "after the fight with Hammerhead, you left before you could tell us your power."

Turtle looked up in thought, "it's called rewind. basically when I use it, I get a thirty second do-over. So if one of you gets hurt or something goes wrong i get a chance to go back and change it."

"So basically you can manipulate time," Cat said with excitement.

"only thirty seconds at a time," Turtle answered, "and I'm the only one who remembers what's changed."

"So you could've just used it and I wouldn't have known," Cat said with a puzzled look.

"Yep," Turtle said with a smile, "but that would've been a waste."

both laughed for a second until the tv cut them off, " _Breaking news, a battle has broken out towards the 10th arondissement between Ladybug and a new akuma victim. While the battle has been contained to a small area, akuma does appear to be on the move. More updates as this develops."_

"You think they'll be okay," Cat said with worry in his eyes, "maybe we should help them."

"They'll be fine," Turtle said, "we have our own orders and until I'm told differently, I'm following them."

almost on cue, Cat's baton and Turtle's goggles began to let out a small ping.

"Speak of the devil," Turtle said as he pressed the small button on the side of his goggles to make an image of Ladybug appear on the lenses, Cat did the same on his baton, "what's up Red?"

"Guys, you're gonna want to get ready," Ladybug said as she ran, "Brain Power is coming your way, his akuma is in his glasses."

"aw man," Turtle said, "and here I was enjoying my feet being on the ground."

Suddenly Turtle began to float off the ground, and flew across the room. "Yep," Turtle groaned, "definitely miss my feet being on my ground."

Brain Power floated into the room and picked up Cat Noir, pulling him closer to himself. Brain Power lifted up Cat's hand and tried to grab his ring, but Turtle smacked his hand away with his shield. "Didn't mommy teach you not to take things that aren't yours," Turtle said as he caught his shield. Brain Power threw Cat against Turtle smashing them both into a wall.

"Where is Girago," Brain Power said, "We have business together."

"Sorry," Turtle said, "but that's on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know." Suddenly Turtle was floating again, "you still don't need to know."

Before Brain Power could throw Turtle across the room, a wave of red, yellow, and black pun around him until he was wrapped up. Then Ladybug and Queen Bee pulled hard on their weapons slamming Brain Power into the ground. "I'd prefer it if you left my new friend and my boyfriend alone," Ladybug said as she wrapped her yoyo round her hand and walked closer to the akuma. suddenly she was lifted off the ground and thrown into Queen Bee.

"I'm getting tired of you using me and my friends as weapons," Turtle said as he picked himself off the ground, "and personally, I kinda want to hit you hard."

"What is going on in here," Girago said as he entered the room.

Brain Power turned to face Girago and let out an almost demonic smile. "I finally have you," Brain Power said as he picked up Girago.

Before Brain Power could do anything, Volpina and Cat Noir commenced a double assault and smacked Brain Power to the ground. "Sorry but I don't think he prefers to walk," Cat said as he spun his baton. Brain Power lifted up Cat Noir and prepared to throw him, but got hit by Turtles shield.

"Hey Cat, Volpina," Ladybug shouted, "get Girago out of here." Both the heroes nodded as they grabbed the old man and ran him out of the house.

"What are you doing," Girago yelled at them as they carried him out, "you can't let him destroy my house."

"You know I'm a little tired of you," Volpina said, "I've been reading up on you, and I don't like it. You've been on a war path to create a perfect school system but you've been ruining lives when doing so and now its coming back to bite you." Volpina pointed at the house, "that akuma is your fault. There is nothing wrong with these schools and you're still trying to fix it."

"I... I didn't realize the damage it could cause," Girago said, "I just wanted things to be better, I didn't want this."

Volpina sighed, "things can be better, but you need to work with people not push them out of your way." As she said this her miraculous beeped, three minutes left. Volpina looked at Cat, "I'll get Girago to safety and disappear before I transform back, go help the others."

Cat smiled, "Got it, I'll make sure to school this teacher." Volpina groaned and jumped away as Cat Noir ran back toward the others. The fight was not going well, Jade Turtle was literally in a wall struggling to get up, Queen Bee trying to help him out, and Brain Power was holding Ladybug reaching for her earrings. Cat extended his baton and smacked Brain Power's hand away and then slammed him against the wall. In return, Brain Power picked him up and threw him against Queen Bee and Turtle.

"I thought you always landed on your feet," Turtle said as he pushed Cat off of himself.

"Well, sometimes I do," Cat replied, "but most of the time I just get hurt."

"Be serious you two," Queen Bee said as she helped the two up, "we need to get the akuma in his glasses."

Turtle thought, "I got an idea," he handed his shield to Queen Bee, "Hold this, wait till I say 'You forget'. Got it? Good." Turtle Jumped at Brain Power covering his face with his hand. Brain Power Caught him.

"Hmm, are you presenting your miraculous to me," Brain Power said as he stared at Turtle's wrist in front of his face, more specifically the bracelet on it, "How kind, and without your weapon, you truly are giving up."

"You forget," Turtle said, Queen Bee let go of the shield and it went flying towards Turtle and Brain Power, "It always comes back." Turtle ducked his head and moved his arm and the shield came flying into Brain Power's face, smashing his glasses, and releasing the akuma. "Now Red," turtle shouted as he picked up his shield.

Ladybug nodded and opened her yoyo, "No more evil doing for you little akuma." She threw her yoyo at it shouting, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" She caught the akuma and brought her yoyo back releasing the small white bug, "Bye bye little butterfly." She then threw her yoyo into the air and shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" A pulse of red and black flowed through the room, fixing all the damage they caused."

"Where am I," Mr. Damocles said as he looked around.

"Pound it," the four heroes said as they all fist bumped.

"Well I better take off," Turtle said as he walked to the door.

"Wait," Queen Bee said, grabbing his hand, "Can't we know who you are?"

Turtle shook his head, "sorry I need to let the dust from something else settle first, but one day you'll know," he started walking out the door again, "if you ever figure it out, I'll happily tell you if you're right." He walked out the door and jumped off.

"Why didn't you tell them," Wayzz asked as Sam browsed the channels, looking for a news report on his fight.

"I said it back at Girago's place," Sam said stopping on a newscast, "I need to let the dust from Blackbird settle down, I don't want them to think the shield of the team is some vigilante. I want to prove I'm a hero so when I reveal myself that's how they see me."

"I do not agree with your reasons," Wayzz said, "but I know you can't tell anyone."

"yeah yeah," Sam said waving off Wayzz, "you said all this during your four hour explanation."

Sam and Wayzz watched the news report, " _according to Ladybug and her allies, the new hero has identified himself as the Jade Turtle and is happy to help defend Paris. I don't know about you, but I feel especially safe with five heroes in the city."_

Sam let out a smile and stood up, "come on Wayzz, I'm sure you want some chips and I need some tea. Consider it a victory celebration."

"I can agree to that," Wayzz said as he and Sam went into the kitchen and grabbed some snacks.

 **END**

It is done. I did it. and before you ask, yes Jade Turtle and Cat Noir were watching one piece, I just didn't want to say it because they don't say the names of shows and stuff like that in the Miraculous show so i decided i wouldn't either, just mentioning it seemed out of style for the show, and I want this to seem as much like the show as I can, with each chapter being an episode. the only difference is it's told specifically from the main characters perspective, anyway I'm done ranting about how i try to be accurate (I literally would look up information about characters in order to get it right) the next chapter will come out whenever I get around to it. (also quick tidbit, I was originally going to name this chapter The Jade Turtle, but as I wrote it, it became less and less about Sam, so I changed it)


	4. Mindwipe

Mindwipe

"You're gonna what," Marinette said as she and Chloe walked into school.

"I'm gonna go hand out with Sam at his place after school," Chloe said, "I wanna check up on him, he's starting to fall asleep in class and show up late like when he was Blackbird."

"There haven't been any reports about Blackbird," Marinette said, "Alya's been making sure."

"Well what else could he be doing," Chloe said, "he could be avoiding the press and not leaving his feathers anymore."

The two walked into class and took their seats. "Look Chloe," Marinette said as she pulled her books out of her bag, "you can do what you want, as long as he doesn't figure you out, you're good."

"Figure what out Strings," Sam said as he walked up to Marinette.

"You know eavesdropping is rude right," Marinette said, "and whats with this Strings thing?"

Sam looked up and thought, "Well your name sounds like marionette and your an aspiring fashion designer who works with strings so..."

"Why can't you just call me Marinette," She said with a glare.

"Cause where's the fun in that," Sam said.

Chloe decided to but in, "Hey Sam, I was wondering if we could hang out after school today?"

"Oh...uh, Probably not...," Sam said, trying to come up with an excuse to get out of this so he could patrol as Jade Turtle, "you see I have... uh... to wash my... cat?"

"I didn't know you had a cat," Adrien said as she walked into class and sat down.

"I don't," Sam said, "I was gonna get one after school... from the shelter of course... and I'll need to wash him."

"Really," Nino said giving Sam a look, "Marinette has come up with better excuses."

"I don't know," Alya said as she sat down, "Having to take her dog to the vet after it ate a sweater was a pretty bad one."

"That excuse wasn't that bad," Marinette said.

"It was awful," Adrien said, "I just didn't make it to class that day."

"Oh yeah and what were you doing with Strings that made you miss class Pretty Boy," Sam said inching closer to Adrien.

Adrien looked at Marinette nervously for help, luckily she provided. "Hey Sam, did your jacket always have that hood," she asked pointing to the cloth hood on Sam's jacket.

Sam took a second trying to figure out what she meant, "Oh, No it didn't. The hood can be attached and detached at will, I normally wear it but haven't had it before because I lost it when I moved."

Marinette was fascinated by the design, "How does it come off and on?"

"Oh it's got a little zipper on the inside," Sam said pointing to a small zipper on the inside of the jacket.

While Marinette thought about the fashion design, Chloe decided to cut in, "Hey Sam, back on the subject of your cat, you think I can come with you to pick him or her up."

Sam went back into panic mode, "Oh well... I don't know... I mean it's a tough decision to pick a cat right?"

Nino laughed, "dude, you should probably let her go with you, she could help make the choice easier."

"Quiet DJ," Sam said giving Nino a death stare.

"I'm sure I can help out," Chloe said.

Sam let out a defeated sigh, "fine you can tag along, just don't be a burden." Chloe nodded, Sam then went back to his seat and started mumbling to himself, "Paris can go one day without the Jade Turtle. The others can handle it, and I'm sure I can slip away from Chloe if I really need to."

School went by quickly without anything happening today. As soon as the last bell rang, Sam bolted hoping he can get away before Chloe caught up to him. It didn't work. "Hey Sam," Chloe said as she ran up to him.

Sam let out a defeated sigh, "Hey Chloe."

"So you were going to pick up a cat," Chloe said as she and Sam walked down the street.

"Guess so," Sam said. The animal shelter wasn't far from school, and luckily Chloe knew the way.

The minute they got to the shelter, a young man about their age came to greet them. "Hello," he said with a large smile, "is there anyway I can help you."

Sam nodded, "yeah I'm looking for a cat."

The young man smiled, "very good, follow me." Sam and Chloe were led into a large room containing a large amount of cages, all open. Another young man was running around trying to gather up all the cats and put them back into their cages.

"Jack," the young man who led them into the room yelled, "what happened here."

The other young man, Jack, quickly tried to explain, "I... I leaned on some button and it opened all the cages, why do we have that button."

"Jack, you cannot keep making mistakes like this," the other man said, "I Can't just forget that stuff like this keeps happening."

"But I don't mean to do it," Jack said.

"But you do," the other man said, "I want you out."

"But..." Jack said.

"Out," the other man shouted.

"This isn't good," Chloe mumbled to herself. Jack pushed past Sam and Chloe, anger on his face. "Wait," Chloe said trying to stop Jack from running out the door.

"Excuse me," the other man said, stopping Chloe, "but is there any chance you can help me get these cats back in their cages."

Sam and Chloe looked at each other. Both knew that they couldn't run off without helping, but they couldn't let a possible akuma get away. They also knew if they went chasing after him for no reason it would be suspicious.

"We'll help," Sam said before Chloe could do anything, he then started picking up cats and helping put them back in their individual cages. "Well aren't you gonna help," Sam said looking at Chloe, she then started picking up cats and helping put them back in their cages as well. It took them a little while but they eventually got all the cats back in their cages.

"There's still on missing," Chloe said as she looked at one of the open cages.

"It's over here," Sam said as he picked up a white cat with green and blue calico eyes, "who's this guy."

"He doesn't have a name," the shelter manager said, "he's a stray that got picked up this morning."

"A little nobody," Sam said as he cradled the little cat in his arms, "I can relate."

"Coming from the guy who's parents own a major international company," Chloe said, Sam ignored her.

"I'll take him," Sam said, "I came here to get a cat anyways."

"Alright then," the shelter manager let out a smile, "We just need you to fill out some paperwork." He walked over to a computer in the corner, "Let's start with a name."

"A name huh," Sam looked down at the cat and made a thinking face, "How about Quartz. Pure and white but strong as stone."

"A good name sir," the manager entered it into his computer, "now some personal information."

After all that had been said and done, Sam and Chloe went back to his house. Sam held Quartz the whole way there, however as they walked they both couldn't shake the feeling that the had forgotten something.

They eventually arrived at Sam's house. Sam handed Quartz to Chloe and pulled his key out from his inner jacket pocket. After he opened the door, he took his cat back and brought it inside.

Chloe was surprised by the house. Considering the status of Sam's father, Chloe had expected it to be bigger. The house was a single large room with only two doors other than the entrance, the restroom, and the closet. In on corner of the room stood a small kitchen counter as well as a mini fridge and a pantry. In the opposite corner stood a form of common area with a large futon and a medium sized chair facing at a huge tv. Behind the couch was a table where Sam emptied his pockets and put his phone on some form of music dock and began playing some band Chloe had never heard before. In the third corner was some random exercise equipment, a punching bag and some weights. Finally in the last corner was a black electric Guitar that ended in the two points. The three doors of the room fit between these four area's Sam had set up.

Sam set Quartz down on the chair and went over to his kitchen, "Tea?" Chloe shook her head, Sam let out a smile, "your loss." Sam opened a small bottle of iced tea and began to drink it.

"Cool band," Chloe said as Sam drank his tea, "never heard them before."

"Small band from America," Sam said, "I can get you a cd if you want."

"Really," Chloe said with excitement, Sam nodded in response, "that's amazing, thank you." Sam smiled and continued drinking his tea, until his eyes went wide and he nearly choked.

Chloe walked over and helped him get his breath, "You okay?"

"Yeah yeah," Sam said, "it's just that I... uh... forgot to buy a cat bed and... uh... cat food yeah, can you watch Quartz until I get back."

Before Chloe could even answer, Sam was out the door. Sam quickly ran into the small alley besides his house and pulled his jacket aside to signal Wayzz to come out. "What is it," Wayzz said giving a concerned stare to Sam.

"That kid," Sam said with concern, "His name was Jack or something, I completely forgot about him. There's a chance he was akumatized."

Wayzz suddenly shared his concern, "how could you forget something this important Sam?"

"It slipped my mind," Sam said, "But we need to find him, and I know where to start."

"Wayzz, Shell Up!"

Jade Turtle looked down at the animal shelter from the adjacent rooftop, the door was wide open. Turtle jumped down in front of the door and walked into the animal shelter. He looked around as he walked in, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Eventually Turtle made it into the cat room, and saw the shelter manager sitting at the computer, staring directly at the wall almost unblinking. Turtle sprinted over to the desk and grabbed the manager on the shoulder, "sir are you ok?"

The manager slowly turned to face him, "Yes everything is fine. Who are you?"

"I'm Jade Turtle," Turtle responding while examining the manager for any physical damage, "I'm just here to make sure everything's alright. So there's nothing bugging you?"

The manager thought for a second, "There is one thing Mr. Jade Turtle."

Turtle didn't like the way he said that, "and what is it?"

"Who am I," the manager said with a blank stare.

Turtles eyes popped wide open, "Things are not fine. They're not fine at ... do you know who did this to you."

The manager looked up, "a man in red, he said now you've forgotten my mistakes."

Turtle panicked and then pressed the small button on the side of his goggles to try and call his friends in hopes that they would come to help. No one answered. Turtle slammed his hand on the desk, and immediately realized something. "Excuse me but can you please move," Turtle said to the manager, who kindly obliged. Turtle sat down in the chair and messed with the computer mouse until he the screen lit up, and he didn't like what he saw. The screen showed all the information that he had given to the shelter, as well as a picture of him holding Quartz. If that akuma was trying to make people forget his mistake, he may be heading toward his house since they were there. He had to stop it fast, he had to make sure Chloe didn't meet the same fate as the shelter manager. He quickly pulled up the Ladyblog and began typing a message. _To Red_ _Urgent alert from Jade Turtle: an akuma has surfaced. He may be targeting some teens he interacted with earlier. Hit me on comms when you get this._ Turtle typed Quickly and then put burst out the door in order to catch up to the akuma. "I hope you get my message Red," Turtle said as he sprinted back to his house.

Adrien and Marinette were sitting at the park, staring at the bronze statue of the miraculous team. "Remember when it was just us on that statue," Adrien said as he out an arm around Marinette.

"Yeah," Marinette said with a laugh, "how mad do you think Theo will be knowing he'll have to remake the statue to add a new hero?"

"Hopefully not mad enough to go impersonating me again," Adrien said with a laugh, Marinette laughed as well and rested her head on Adrien's shoulder.

"The team has come a long way," Marinette said with a smile, "I remember back when we fought Stoneheart and I could barely use my yoyo."

"Yeah," Adrien said, "first time we met you crashed into me and got us tangled up in your yoyo, it was the first time I got to see your beautiful face."

Marinette blushed, "Don't remind me, that was not my best day."

Adrien put his head to hers, "it was my best day, all because it was the day I met you."

The two leaned in to kiss, but were interrupted by both of their phones ringing simultaneously. They groaned, both of them stopped to check their phones. "We'll need to continue this later Mr. Agreste," Marinette said as she put her phone away, "right now we have to do our civic duty." Adrien nodded and the two ran behind one of the buildings.

"Tikki, Spots on!"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

Ladybug pulled out her yoyo and switched it to it's comms mode, Jade Turtle picked up almost as soon as she called. "You know Red," Turtle said as he ran, "It defeats the purpose of comms if you don't have yours on for me to call you."

"We have our own lives," Cat Noir said from over Ladybugs shoulder, "and I want to spend all nine to the fullest."

Ladybug put an end to the joking, "What's going on? What's this new akuma."

"Not sure," Turtle said, "from what I've gathered he has some kind of memory erasing power, something about making people forget his mistakes. He's going after two teens who saw one of his mistakes earlier, a Chloe Bourgeois and Samuel Firgate. I'm going to Firgate's place now."

"How do you know where that is," Ladybug asked.

"It was... uh... on some paperwork at an animal shelter," Turtle said, "the akuma originated from there, happened to be nearby when it happened and got the info."

"Alright we'll meet you there," Ladybug said, "send us your location."

Turtle nodded and hung up, a few seconds later his location appearing on her yoyo.

"Shouldn't we go help Chloe," Cat said as he vaulted onto the rooftops behind ladybug.

"She was with Sam, remember," Ladybug answered, "plus our Queen can handle herself."

"Whatever you say my lady," Cat said and the two followed the rooftops to Sam's house.

When Turtle arrived at his house, the door was open. He rushed down to help Chloe, shield in hand, hoping she had somehow got away. When he entered the room, the first thing he saw was a man standing in the center holding up some kind of ray gun. "Hey," Turtle shouted to get his attention, the akuma turned around and Turtle got a good look at him, he was in a red suit with orange shoulders and a orange line connecting them. His gloves were orange with the outer part of his arms being a bright red while the inside of his arms and the area under his armpits down to his belt being dark red and separating the dark red was a bright red streak going from his neck to his orange belt, he wore bright red pants as well as orange boots. Covering his face was a red mask resembling a butterfly.

"Jade Turtle, so glad you could make it," the villain said, "I bet if I make you forget what that bracelet is you'll just give it to me."

"Jack, is it," Turtle tried to coax, "listen I bet you wanna make everyone forget the screw ups you've had and the bad things you may have done, believe me I've been there, but this isn't the way."

"It may not be the right way," the villain said, "but it is the efficient one." He then shot a beam at Turtle, who blocked it with his shield. "Also it's not Jack," the villain said as he fired another beam at Turtle, "it's Mindwipe."

Suddenly a silver baton smacked Mindwipe. "You know Hawk Moth's most recent names have been PAW-sitively terrible," Cat Noir said as he stood in the doorway, "maybe he should take some improv."

"Well if you don't like them," Mindwipe said, "why don't you forget them." He began shooting a barrage of beams at Cat Noir, but Cat kept dodging. Ladybug walked over to turtle while Cat kept Mindwipe busy. "Where are the teens," Ladybug said.

Turtle shook his head, "I don't know where Bourgeois is, but I helped Firgate get away. He's hiding where no one will look."

"Guess I might need your memories in order to tell me where the other one is," Mindwipe said as he turned his focus towards the other two heroes. He shot a beam at Ladybug, but Turtle used his shield to block it.

"You are beginning to annoy me," Mindwipe said as he switched between shooting at Cat and Turtle.

"The akuma has gotta be in his blaster," Ladybug said as Turtle blocked another blast.

"I'm on it," Cat said as he jumped at Mindwipe.

"No," Turtle shouted, but it was to late. The second Cat jumped, he got hit on his chest with one of Mindwipe's beams. Cat flew back against the wall and then let out a confused stare.

"Where am I," Cat said as he looked around.

"REWIND," Turtle shouted and time rewound back to when he was blocking beams from hitting Ladybug.

"The akuma has gotta be in his blaster," Ladybug said as Turtle blocked another blast.

"I'm on it," Cat said, as he did so Turtle threw his shield. The second Cat jumped into the air, Mindwipe fired a blast, but it got blocked by Turtles flying shield. Cat then hit Mindwipe in the chest knocking him out the door.

"You know if you didn't go jumping in headfirst," Turtle scolded to Cat, "I wouldn't have had to use my power."

"Well I got him didn't I," Cat said in a bragging tone.

"Yes," Ladybug said, "but he still has his blaster."

Cat Noir looked at where he had hit Mindwipe, only to see his blaster was nowhere to be seen. "Oh," Cat said, "That's my bad, I'll get it."

"Excuse me," all the heroes turned around to see Chloe sticking her head out of the closet, "is that mean guy in red gone."

"Yeah," Turtle said, "Are you alright."

Chloe nodded, "who are you?"

"Jade Turtle," He said as he walked over to her.

"Oh," Chloe said, "who am I."

Cat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other as Turtle kept coaxing Chloe. "You're Chloe Bourgeois, the mayor's daughter. Does any of this ring a bell?"

Chloe shook her head. Ladybug pulled Cat aside and started whispering to him, "What are we gonna do? Chloe can't go Bee without her memory."

"Then for now we settle with three heroes and hop Volpina shows up soon," Cat said, "at least we got Turtle."

"Actually you don't," Turtle said as he walked over, He had Chloe sitting on the couch staring at the wall, "I gotta go recharge." Turtle held up his bracelet to show that one of the small hexagons on it was missing. "I'll recharge and meet up with you as soon as I can," Turtle said, and before Cat and Ladybug could say anything, he bolted out.

"And then there were two," Cat said.

Suddenly both of their comms started to ring. Cat and Ladybug opened their comms to see Volpina. "Where were you," Ladybug asked.

"At the movies," Volpina answered, "I had my phone off, didn't see Turtles message until a couple of minutes ago."

"Yeah well we could've used your help," Cat said, "not to mention Chloe got her mind wiped by... well some guy calling himself Mindwipe."

"I'm on my way," Volpina said, "Just try to keep your memory in tact."

Sam had been trying to avoid being seen. He kept his hood up and his head down as he walked down the street trying to listen to the people around him to see if Mindwipe was coming so he knew if he needed to run. "We need to hurry," Wayzz said from inside Sam's hood, "we need to find something for me to eat so you can go help everyone else."

"I know," Sam said, "I'm trying to find anywhere that may sell food. It's not like America where there's a store on every corner."

Suddenly, Sam could hear screaming. People pushed pass him, running away from something. "This can't be good," Sam said as he ran towards the screaming. Sam turned the corner to see a familiar red villain.

"Don't run," Mindwipe said, "stay and I'll make you forget what fear is."

"We have to help," Sam said as he watched Mindwipe blast random peoples memories away.

"We can't do anything until I recharge," Wayzz said.

"Yes we can," Sam said, "he's looking for me, we give him what he wants. I'll go out and lure him away from other people."

"That's insane," Wayzz said.

"So am I," Sam said as he took off his hoodie and ran out towards Mindwipe. "Hey Memory Man," Sam yelled as he waved his arms, "Over here."

Mindwipe turned around and let out an almost evil smile. "There you are," he said, "The last one to remember my mistakes." He aimed his blaster at Sam, when he fired Sam jumped out of the way.

"You missed," Sam yelled, "guess it's another mistake." Sam then turned tail and ran, Mindwipe giving chase. Eventually Sam ran down into an alley, straight into a dead end.

"I have you now," Mindwipe said as he aimed his blaster. He took the the shot but it went straight through him. Suddenly Sam faded away. Mindwipe looked around only to see Volpina running across the roof with Sam.

Volpina and Sam could hear Mindwipe yelling in the alley as they got away.

"I thought you were somewhere safe," Volpina said as she and Sam stopped on a nearby roof.

"I was," Sam said, "was hiding in plain sight."

"I thought you were done withthis whole Blackbird thing," Volpina said as Sam sat down against an ac vent.

"I am," Sam said, "but people were in danger, I has to get the akuma away from people."

"You could've gotten hurt," Volpina said.

"But I didn't and now he's away from other people," Sam said, "don't worry I'll go back to hiding, but i do need a bag of chips."

"Why do you want a bag of chips," Volpina asked as she gave a skeptical stare.

"Not want," Sam said, "need."

Ladybug and Cat Noir tried to take care of Chloe, seeing if they could trigger her memories. Eventually they decided to go searching for Mindwipe, but not until Pollen convinced them that she could take care of Chloe until they got her memories back. The two began jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of Mindwipe, but didn't find anything.

They kept searching until their comms rang. They answered to see Volpina. "Hey guys," she said, "I found the new akuma, he's near the Louvre."

"We're on our way," Ladybug said as she took off in that direction.

"Also I ran into Sam," Volpina said, "he was playing hero again, I got him to go back into hiding for a bag of chips."

"He really is weird," Cat said.

"Shouldn't judge a book by it's cover," a voice came from behind Volpina. She turned around to see Jade Turtle tossing his shield up and catching it repeatedly. "Who knows," Turtle said as he walked to Volpina, "those chips could've been for a friend."

"No reason was worth risking his memories," Volpina said. Suddenly, Volpina's necklace started beeping. "I gotta bail," she said, "had to use my powers to save Mr. Potato chips. I'll see you later." She then took off.

After she left turtle pressed the small button on his goggles to call Cat Noir and Ladybug. "so it's back to the three musketeers," Turtle said when the two picked up.

"Hurry to the Louvre," Ladybug said as she ran across rooftops, "he's heading that way."

Turtle nodded and ran off toward the Louvre.

Cat Noir and Ladybug arrived at the glass pyramid first. They saw Mindwipe preparing his blaster and aiming it at the pyramid. "Hey Mindwipe," Ladybug yelled from on top of the building where they were perched.

Mindwipe looked up and let out a frown. "I don't have time for you," he said as he fired his beam at them, but it got blocked by a shield in the air. The shield returned back to Jade Turtle who let out a confident smile.

"Three on one," Jade Turtle said, "you don't have a chance, give up Mindwipe."

"I can't do that," Mindwipe said, "you see I discovered something. I figured out that my blaster can reflect off of... well, reflective surfaces, but glass is a weird case. It doesn't just reflect off the glass it also goes through it, creating two beams. So I wonder, what would happen if I shoot the Louvre pyramid."

"That's insane," Ladybug shouted, "you could hit all of Paris."

"I know," Mindwipe said, "I'll definitely hit that jerk who saw my mistakes and with your memories gone, I can just take your miraculous it all works in my favor."

Mindwipe then pointed his blaster at the pyramid, but before he fired a loud shout came from the rooftop. "CATACLYSM," Cat Noir shouted as he jumped at the pyramid. One scratch and the entire pyramid crumbled to pieces. "Guess you'll never know," Cat said as he landed.

"You'll pay for that," Mindwipe said as he fired at Cat, but Turtle jumped in front of it and blocked it with his shield.

"Guess it's my turn," Ladybug said. She then threw her yoyo in the air and shouted, "LUCKY CHARM!" A small hand mirror landed in her palms. Normally Ladybug had to think about how she would have to use this but instantaneously, she knew what to do. She tucked the mirror into the back of the makeshift belt she made with her yoyo.

"Hey Mindwipe," Ladybug said as she jumped down to street level, "take a shot at me." Cat Noir stepped forward to try and stop her, but Turtle put his hand on Cat's chest, as if telling him to trust Ladybug.

"Gladly," Mindwipe said as he fired his blaster at Ladybug, who responded by pulling the mirror out from behind her and using it to send the beam back at Mindwipe. The blast hit him square on the chest and sent him flying back. Ladybug quickly ran over to where Mindwipe had landed. Mindwipe looked around in confusion, "Where am I?"

"Nowhere special," Ladybug said as she picked up the blaster that had landed next to him. Ladybug then cracked it open on her knee, releasing the small butterfly. "No more evil doing for you little akuma," Ladybug said as she opened her yoyo, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" She flung her yoyo at the small akuma and trapped it within. She pulled the yoyo back and opened it to release the beatiful white bug. "Bye bye little butterfly," Ladybug said, then picking up the mirror and throwing it into the air while shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG." Like always a wave of red and black flew over Paris, fixing everything including the glass pyramid.

"Pound it," the three heroes said as they fist bumped.

"Where am I," Jack said as he looked around.

Cat quickly walked over to him. "Real quick," he said, "Do you know who I am."

"Cat Noir," Jack said, "Why? Wait, was I akumatized?"

All of the heroes let out a sigh of relief before Ladybug answered, "Yes, but don't worry you're fine now."

"Hey Red," Turtle said pointing at his ears. Almost as if on cue, Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring began to beep.

"Guess we'll see you later," Cat said as he and Ladybug took off.

"Yeah," Turtle said, he then turned to Jack, "you gonna be okay?" Jack nodded. "Then I'm off," Turtle said as he jumped to the rooftops.

Sam ran back to his house, carrying cat food, cat bed, and a cat bowl under his arms. "We could've just run back," Wayzz said from the inside of Sam's hood.

"It helps with my story," Sam said as he ran, "plus I needed to buy this stuff anyway."

Sam quickly arrived at the door and put down some of the stuff to open the door. When he opened the door, he saw Chloe sitting down watching a news report about the fight earlier next to Adrien and Marinette. "Hey Sam," She said and stood up to greet him.

"Hi Chloe," Sam said, "hi people I don't remember inviting into my house."

"Chloe let us in," Adrien said, "we came to make sure you guys were okay after the last akuma attack."

"We're fine," Sam said as he set the stuff down, "I was leaving the store with all this cat stuff, when some weird guy in red came up to me and tried to blast me. Luckily that new hero... uh... what was his name?"

"Jade Turtle," Marinette answered.

"Yeah him," Sam continued, "he showed up and helped me."

"Man you got to meet one of those heroes," Adrien said, "I never get a chance to. I always wanted to meet Cat Noir." Marinette laughed.

Sam let out a smile, "well since you guys are here, might as well hang out." Sam walked over to his fridge, "don't suppose you want some tea."

"I'll take some," Adrien said, Sam threw a small bottle to him. Adrien opened it and took a sip before spitting it out, "that tastes disgusting."

"How dare you waste good tea," Sam said, "There are some lines you shouldn't cross Pretty Boy, that's one of them." Sam then chased Adrien out the door while Chloe and Marinette watched and laughed.

 **END**

If you're sick of Sam, don't worry the next chapter is going to focus less on him, and the next one isn't going to focus on him at all. I Just wanted to establish him a bit so you all could get an idea of what he's like.


	5. Sharp Chord

Sharp Chord

"You're going to be late Marinette," Tikki said as Marinette rushed to grab her stuff.

"I know I know," Marinette said as she put her tablet in her bag, "We were basically up all night fighting Sorceress, I didn't get any sleep."

"Well you can get sleep later," Tikki said as she flew into Marinette's satchel, "right now you need to get to school."

Marinette bolted downstairs, quickly saying goodbye to her mom and dad, then bolted across the street towards the school. She ran into the courtyard and up the stairs into Ms. Bustier's class. "Ms. Dupain-Cheng," Ms. Bustier said as Marinette walked into class, "care to explain why you're late."

"Well you see," Marinette said, trying to think up an excuse, "I was late because... um... I..."

Suddenly Sam burst into class, "I'm sorry I'm late miss."

"Ah Mr. Firgate," Ms. Bustier said, "You're late as well, care to explain."

Sam looked to see Marinette standing in the middle of the classroom and thought up something brilliant, "well you see Ms, me and Marinette were practicing for something coming up this week, we were up late last night practicing. I've been working her to the bone it's my fault Ms. Don't blame Marinette."

Ms. Bustier looked at him skeptically, "Very well, Mr. Firgate. You have detention for the next two days, Ms. Dupain-Cheng take your seat.'

Sam walked over to his seat, but as he passed he whispered in Marinette's ear, "owe me one Strings."

Class dragged on and it didn't help that Chloe kept kicking the back of her desk in anticipation and kept saying, "You guys won't believe it." Eventually lunch break came and Chloe pulled Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino aside to talk to them. "Guys you won't believe what I got," Chloe said as everyone gave her tired looks, except for Nino who wasn't up all night fighting an akuma. Chloe sighed before pulling out a couple of lanyards with small cards on the end. "Five VIP passes to Jagged Stone's concert tomorrow," Chloe said. Everyone suddenly perked up.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Alya said as she stared at the passes, "I couldn't even get regular tickets, how did you get VIP?"

"The normal was sold out," Chloe said, "but VIP take longer to sell because of how expensive they are."

Marinette hugged Chloe, "after last night, I think we could all use a break like this. Thank you."

'Yeah, Chloe," Adrien said, "how can I repay you."

"You guys owe me nothing," Chloe said, "it's my treat."

"Well at least I know I won't be alone in those fancy seats," Sam said as he walked up, he then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his own VIP pass.

"dude,I can't believe you got one too," Nino said as he looked at the pass, "guess your folks help pay for that."

"Are you kidding me," Sam said, "they hate rock music, I got this all on my own through some... special connections in America."

"That's not suspicious," Adrien said.

"Nothing I do is suspicious," Sam said, "now excuse me while I go out to possibly not make it back after lunch." And with that Sam left.

"Well that was interesting," Marinette said.

"Everything he does is interesting," Alya said.

The rest of the day went slow with everyone getting excited for the concert. Sam did make it back after lunch, but he fell asleep in class. After school, Marinette was heading back to the bakery when she got stopped. "Hey Marinette," Sam said, "I could use your help."

Marinette looked at Sam with confusion, "what is it?"

"I need to know," Sam said, "can you sing? And I mean sing really good, like blow people away good."

"Yeah," Marinette said, "why?"

Sam reached into his jacket and pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to her, "I need you to learn this song for me, can you do that?"

"Why," Marinette asked.

"Because you owe me one," Sam said, "listen just try to learn it by tomorrow, it'll all make sense then."

Before Marinette could ask anymore questions, Sam ran off.

The next day went even slower, especially for Marinette who had to learn Sam's song, for what reason she still did not know. Everyone waited in anticipation for the concert that night, and finally it came. Around noon, Adrien came to pick her up in his limo. He had already picked up Chloe, Alya, and Nino, and even went out of his way to pick up Sam.

"What's up Strings," Sam said as Marinette took a seat next to Adrien.

"Not much," Marinette said.

"Don't suppose I can have my paper back," Sam said extending his hand.

"Yeah," Marinette said as she put the small paper in his hand, "mind explaining why I learned this."

"All in due time," Sam said, "For now," he made a zipping motion over his lips.

"What did you learn," Chloe asked.

Sam made the same motion again, signaling Marinette to keep quiet. "Sorry Chloe," Marinette said, "but right now I can't tell you."

Sam smiled and nodded at Marinette. The rest of the car ride, Marinette was quiet trying to keep all the lyrics in her mind, as well as the rhythm from the video that was written on the paper. "Hey," Adrien said looking slightly concerned,"you haven't said anything."

"yeah," Marinette said, "just a little tired and having trouble remembering what Sam had me memorize."

"Well here," Sam said as he handed back the paper, "you can have this back, I just wanted to write my number on it, seeing as we're friends and all. You can send that to everyone here, seeing as you all have been pretty cool since I got here."

"Aw I'm touched," Adrien said, "you really do care."

Suddenly everyone's phone's buzzed with a text from Marinette containing Sam's number, and they promptly entered it into their phones. They all sent a message to Sam and he promptly used this to enter their numbers into his phone.

"Man, this is exciting," Nino said, "We're making friends and going to see an awesome Jagged Stone concert."

"I know right," Chloe said, she then turned toward Sam, "Hey Sam, what's your favorite Jagged Stone song."

"Actually," Sam said, "I'm more here for the band opening for Jagged Stone, they're called The Rainmakers. They're a rock band from America." He pointed at Chloe, "you heard them back at my house, I owe you one of their CD's."

"That was them," Chloe asked, Sam nodded, "they were pretty good, I can't wait to hear them."

"Well we're here," Adrien said as the limo pulled into the parking lot. The limo pulled toward the stage entrance and the 6 all got out. They got to the door and showed their stage passes to the large bouncer, who let them backstage. The backstage area was large and bustling with stage workers everywhere. There were drums, guitars, and other instruments were seen all around the backstage area. "Wow," Marinette said as she looked around.

"Wow is right," Alya said as she pulled out her phone and began filming.

"No filming," a mysterious voice said, everyone turned around to see a balding man with white hair and a small mustache in a white suit, Marinette recognized him.

"You're Jagged Stone's manager," Marinette said pointing at him.

"Bob Roth," the man in white said, "I believe you were the girl to design the last album cover."

"Yeah," Marinette said, "I'm glad you remembered."

"Well it wasn't what I wanted," Roth said, "but the album sold well so I don't care. Anyway no filming."

Sam then walked over and whispered something into Roth's ear real quick. after stepping back and getting a look at Sam, his eyes went wide. "I guess I can make an exception this once," Roth said, "but once the concert starts you'll have to put it away."

"Thank you," Alya said before Roth walked off.

"Dude, what did you say to him," Nino said turning to Sam.

Sam lifted up a finger and wagged it back and forth, "sorry, but that's a secret."

Nino made a face before getting distracted and bolting over to an equipment table, "dude, these are some cool headphones."

"Those are used by the stage crew," Sam said, "those are noise cancelling and the mic on them is extremely close range so it only picks up the voice of who's talking into it. Makes it easy to communicate with the rest of the crew during a concert."

"Pretty good knowledge," Alya said as she focused her camera on Sam, "you seem to know your stuff."

"Played a couple of small venues back in America," Sam said, "occasionally you'd see stuff like this."

"Cool," Chloe said as she picked up one of the pairs of headphones and putting them on.

Sam then picked up a pair of cymbals and crashed them behind her, Chloe didn't react. "Pretty good headphones," Sam said.

"WHERE IS ROTH," someone yelled from behind them. Everyone turned around to see, except for Chloe who couldn't hear through the headphones. Sam tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and she promptly took them off. "WHERE IS HE," the voice shouted again, this time everyone could see who it was. He had blonde hair sticking up with a purple headband and a purple jacket.

"Who's that," Sam whispered to Chloe.

"That's XY," Chloe said, "he was a popular pop singer, but now he's been dropping in ratings."

"XY," Roth said as he exited one of the dressing rooms, "what do you want."

"I was told I was gonna open for Jagged Stone," XY said, "So why are these Rainmaker nobodies doing it."

"Listen XY," Roth said trying to calm him down, "Jagged didn't want you opening for him, he wanted another rock star. You've been dropping in ratings ever since your first album, I've been trying to keep you going but it hasn't worked."

"I'm still a star," XY said, "I deserve to be here."

"Well I'm afraid you can't," Roth said, "besides why would you want to play live, I thought that was so ten minutes ago."

XY got mad, Marinette didn't like it. "Whatever," XY yelled, "I don't need this and I don't need you!" XY stormed outside through the stage door.

"Hey I'll catch up with you guys later," Marinette said, "I... Uh... Gotta go find a bathroom."

"Alright, I gotta run too," Sam said, "I gotta meet up with some friends visiting from America."

"You guys are running off left and right," Nino said, "can't you hang a little longer."

"Sorry, but it was my friends who got me this pass," Sam said, "I better go catch up with them." And like always, Sam bolted off before anyone could say a word.

"I'll catch up with you guys before the concert starts," Marinette said, "promise." Marinette followed suit and ran off before anyone could say a word. She kept running until she found another stage exit out of the view of everyone else. "Hey can I get back in if I leave," Marinette said as she walked up to the bouncer on the inside. The bouncer nodded. She bolted out the door and began searching for XY, hoping to find him before Hawk Moth did. It didn't take long to find him, but it was too late. As soon as she found him, he was enveloped in the strange black and purple substance that comes with being akumatized. Eventually the substance formed into a bright purple suit with black sleeves as well as a purple belt, black pants, and purple boots. His hair had also gone black, with his headband disappearing into the signature black butterfly maks that came with Hawk Moth's villains. The gold XY pendant he wore turned into some form of speaker on his chest connected to a headset he was wearing.

Marinette ran around a corner and checked to make sure no one was around before opening her satchel to let Tikki out. "Marinette we need to hurry," Tikki said, "we have to stop this new villain before anyone get's hurt."

"You're right Tikki," Marinette said, "so we better get going."

"Tikki, Spots on!"

Ladybug ran back around the corner to see the villain walking back towards the stage door. "Hey pop punk," she shouted.

The villain turned around to look at Ladybug. "Sweet a fan," he said, "I'm always happy to sing a song for a fan." He then took a deep breath and yelled into his headset to make a wave of red sound appear out of his speaker. Right before the wave hit Ladybug, a green figure appeared in front of her and blocked it.

"Hope I'm not late Red," Jade Turtle said as he stood up.

"Right on time Jade," Ladybug said

Turtle let out a smile and turned to the villain, "some advice, your notes are a little sharp."

"They better be," the villain said, "I am Sharp Chord after all."

"I'm starting to see what you and Cat mean by lame villain names," Ladybug said.

Sharp Chord shot another wave of sound at them, this time both heroes dodged. "No one asked for an encore," Turtle shouted at the villain, "and to be honest, we want you off the stage."

"Well if you don't like that song," Sharp Chord said, "maybe you'll like a love song."

Sharp Chord let out a pink wave of sound, much larger than the concussive red wave he had fired earlier. Ladybug jumped out of the way, but Turtle tried to block it with his shield. The wave went around Turtle and enveloped him, he fell to his hands and knees, screaming. Eventually the wave ended, and Turtle stood up.

"Are you okay," Ladybug asked with concern. Turtle didn't answer, instead looking straight forward.

"You," Sharp Chord said pointing at Turtle, "keep girly busy while I attend to my other fans."

Turtle responded by turning around and trying to punch Ladybug. He seemed to be under Sharp Chord's influence. And of all the people he could control, why did it have to be Turtle? Cat had told her about all the different martial arts and skills he had. She needed the others help, but couldn't get to them with Turtle in the way.

Turtle kept on the offensive, constantly striking at Ladybug. She kept dodging and moving, not wanting to hit her friend. Eventually Jade Turtle slammed his shield into her chest, knocking her to the ground. He stood over her ready to strike with his shield, Ladybug braced for impact.

Meanwhile Sharp Chord used his powers to have the bouncer let him backstage. As soon as the door closed behind Sharp Chord, Turtle stopped what he was doing and shook his head. "What happened," Turtle said, "and why does my head feel like it's gonna explode?"

Ladybug looked in confusion at Turtle, "That really you Jade."

"Yeah it's me Red," Turtle said, "who else would it be?"

"Sharp Chord, that's who," Ladybug, "he had you under his control."

"Huh," Turtle said, "anyone get hurt?"

"Only me," Ladybug answered, "but I'm used to it."

"Alright," Turtle said, "hope you're not holding a grudge against me, 'cause I need your help enacting a grudge against a certain villain."

"Don't worry happy to help," Ladybug said, "but first, how did you escape Sharp Chord's control?"

"No clue," Turtle said, "but I'm sure we can figure that out later, right now we have to catch up with him before he gets to anyone else."

Chloe, Adrien, Nino, and Alya all continued to explore the backstage area. They got to see Jagged Stone as well as two of the members of The Rainmakers. The drummer, a guy who had long black hair and wore a green sweatshirt keeping his drumsticks in the pocket of his hoodie along with blue jeans and tennis shoes, and the keyboard player, a young girl with red hair wearing a brown jacket with a white shirt and blue jeans with black sneakers. They were both extremely nice and even let Chloe keep the headphones she had taken from the equipment table.

"Well they were nice," Adrien said as they continued to walk backstage, "shame Marinette and Sam didn't get to meet them."

"I know," Alya said as she checked her texts, "I've been texting them but neither has responded."

"Major bummer," Nino said filming everything for Alya while she tried to get a hold of the others.

Chloe didn't say anything, she was busy listening to a couple of The Rainmakers songs on her phone with her new headphones, only watching what's going on and reading everyone's lips with slight success. She briefly took off the headphones, "these guys are pretty good, although the singer sounds familiar."

"Yeah well no one knows who the singer is," Alya said, "when I researched them, he didn't come up. Only the band members know and they won't tell me."

"Which means someone is going to get pestered by an aspiring reporter," Nino said.

"You know me so well," Alya said.

Chloe and Adrien laughed at the interaction, but their fun was cut short by a loud bang and screaming. Chloe, Adrien, and Alya all looked toward where the sound was and ran towards it. "Hey guys," Nino shouted, "shouldn't we run away from the danger?" No one listened, they all kept running towards the sounds until they found the source.

Sharp Chord was reeking havoc backstage, sending waves of red energy in every direction. "Well," Adrien said looking at the new akuma, "guess he's not a big fan of rock music."

"We need to stop him," Alya said as she opened her shirt pocket to see the small fox kwami sleeping, "Trixx wake up, we have work to do."

"Five more minutes," Trixx replied.

"We don't have five minutes," Pollen said popping out of Chloe's jacket, "we have to go now."

"Fine," Trixx said as all the miraculous holders ran to look for a place to transform. Eventually they found an empty changing room and prepped for transformation. Before transforming, Chloe took off her headphones and took her phone out of her pocket and put it on one of the tables in the room.

"What are you doing," Adrien asked.

"He just shoots some sort of energy blast right," Chloe said, "well he can't be too hard, so I'm gonna listen to music while we fight him."

"I feel like you shouldn't do that," Alya said.

"But she's too stubborn for you to stop her," Pollen added.

"You're not wrong," Chloe said.

"Guys focus," Adrien said, "we need to stop this guy. Now." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Alright," Adrien said, "let's go save the day."

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Pollen, Stingers Out!"

"Trixx, Tail Up!"

Cat Noir and Volpina went ahead while Queen Bee set up her music, using some small cables nearby to tie it around her waste. Sharp Chord was destroying everything in sight, from the stage lights to the speakers. "Gee," Cat Noir said as he watched the villain destroy stuff from the rafters, "and I thought that I was good at destruction."

"Hey there Kitty," Sharp Chord yelled, "come here to stop me."

"Nah," Cat said, "right now I'm just trying to distract you."

Sharp chord looked at him in confusion, "what do you mean distract me?" Immediately after he said it, Volpina came behind him and swept his legs knocking him to the floor. She then turned face him, preparing her reed flute to smash the the speaker he was using as a weapon, but he screamed releasing a red energy wave sending her flying into the rafters where Cat Noir caught her.

"Don't worry," Cat said as he held Volpina, "I have a girlfriend so You don't need to give me a kiss for saving you."

"That's a shame," Volpina said, "I always wanted to kiss a dirty alley cat."

Suddenly Sharp Chord screamed again, firing another wave of red energy into the rafters. Cat Noir jumped away to avoid the blast and landed on the ground away from Sharp Chord.

"You don't need to keep carrying me," Volpina said as Cat Noir landed. Cat Noir put her down. "So that didn't work," Volpina said looking at Cat, "anymore bright ideas?"

"Charge him," Cat said with a questionable tone in his voice.

"Brilliant. Genius. What could go wrong," a familiar voice said behind them, they turned to see Ladybug and Jade Turtle. Jade Turtle kept talking, "you know a plan like that deserves a medal, great thinking Litter Box."

"Ok then," Cat said, "What's your plan."

"We need to smash the speaker on his chest," Ladybug said, "it's where the akuma is, so we need to..." Before she had a chance to finish, Queen Bee went charging past them trompo in hand.

"Or we can follow her lead and charge," Turtle said, sounding defeated, "Cat, Fox, follow Stripes. Red, you and me will go into the rafters." everyone nodded and followed the instructions.

"You know Jade, normally I make the plans," Ladybug said as she and Turtle jumped up to the rafters.

"Heat of the moment Red," Turtle said. They both stopped on a beam and looked down at he other three looking down on the fight. Cat Noir, Queen Bee, and Volpina all jumping and dodging, avoiding the blasts from Sharp Chord. The three all stopped in front of Sharp Chord facing towards him. In response, Sharp Chord screamed releasing a large pink wave of energy.

"We have to help them," Ladybug said looking at Turtle, "that's what he hit you with, put you under his control."

"We jump down there he'll take control of us too," Turtle said looking back, "we wait and try to figure out how to snap them out like I did."

Ladybug didn't like it, but he was right. "Alright we wait," Ladybug said. When they turned back the three heroes were standing on their feet again.

"Alright my posse," Sharp Chord said addressing the three, "go find your friends and bring their gems to me while I go find Mr. Roth." Volpina and Cat Noir turned around and jumped up to the rafters, Cat Noir Slammed his baton against Turtle's shield and Volpina swung her reed flute at Ladybug, but she dodged.

"Guys snap out of it," Ladybug said as she dodged another swing from Volpina.

"Get off of me Litter Box," Turtle said as Cat Noir pushed him to the ground. He couldn't move the way Cat had pinned him down. Cat reached for his bracelet, but before he grabbed it a spiral of yellow and black wrapped around Cat and pulled him down.

"Bad Kitty," Queen Bee said as she pulled Cat Noir to the ground.

"Stripes," Turtle said with confusion.

"What's up," Queen Bee said, her headphones draped around her neck. She then got blasted in the back by a red wave of energy from Sharp Chord.

"Listen Blondie," Sharp Chord said while Queen Bee got up and steadied herself, "I don't know how you resisted my charm but I know you're gonna regret it." He then got slammed in by Jade Turtle and got sent flying back.

"Shut up," Turtle said.

"You," Sharp Chord said with confusion, "how did you escape. You were part of my posse."

"What can I say," Turtle said, "your music just isn't appealing to me anymore."

Sharp Chord took offense to that, "yeah that's what everyone says." He then screamed and sent Turtle flying against a wall.

"Ow," Turtle said, "my everything."

"You two," Sharp Chord said addressing Volpina and Cat Noir, "keep them busy, I got other problems."Sharp Chord ran off while Volpina and Cat Noir jumped down to floor blocking the path between Sharp Chord and the other heroes.

"Guess we're gonna have to go through them," Turtle said as he stood up.

"We can't hurt them," Ladybug said as she jumped down from the rafter to join the other two, "They're still our friends."

Suddenly both Volpina and Cat Noir fell forward. "What happened," Cat Noir said, "and why does my head feel like it just got steamrolled."

Ladybug and Jade Turtle rushed over to help. "You guys ok," Ladybug said as she helped Cat Noir up.

"Peachy," Volpina said as Turtle helped her up.

"Good," Turtle said, "now we can start asking the big questions. Like how did the three of us escape from Sharp Chord's control?" He then pointed at Queen Bee, "and how come you weren't affected in the first place?"

"Because she couldn't hear him," Ladybug said walking over to Queen Bee and holding up her headphones, "these are noise cancelling headphones. She couldn't hear Sharp Chord's love song..."

"So it couldn't affect me," Queen Bee finished then turned towards Cat and Volpina, "and you said the headphones were a bad idea." Both of them groaned.

"Ok," Turtle said, "But how come we escaped his mind control?"

Ladybug smiled. "Because you couldn't hear him," she said, "every time you guys snapped out of his control, it was because he got far away or something obstructed his voice."

"So if we can't hear him, he can't hurt us," Cat asked. Ladybug nodded and walked over to one of the nearby equipment tables, grabbing four pairs of headphones and five of the walkie talkies that were there. She handed a pair of headphones to everyone who didn't already have a pair, as well as a walkie talkie.

"If we plug the headphones into the walkie talkies we'll still be able to hear each other, but not him," Ladybug said.

"Nice thinking Red," Turtle said as he slipped the headphones under his hood.

Everyone followed suit and put their headphones on. "Can everyone hear me," Ladybug said, everyone nodded, "good than lets go get that speaker."

Everyone followed Ladybug as she ran towards where they last saw Sharp Chord heading. "Ok everyone," Ladybug said, her voice ringing in their headphones, "we need to get close to him, but the minute we do he'll blast us with his beam."

"Wait," Cat Noir said, "I thought the headphones protected us from his attacks?"

"It'll protect us from his control," Turtle said, "we can't hear his song, but his beam is a physical attack."

"Right," Ladybug said, "so when he fires it, move."

"Ok," Queen Bee said, "so whenever we get close to his chest he blasts us, but we need to get to his chest to get his akuma."

"Well," Cat said, "he needs to scream in order to fire his beam, so we get rid of that headset he has first..."

"And make it so he can't attack us," Ladybug, "good thinking Kitty, now let's get him."

They all burst through a set of doors to see Sharp Chord standing on the stage. The team could see his lips move, but because of their headphones couldn't hear what he was saying. Sharp Chord then screamed sending a pink wave of energy at them. When it hit them, they all stood straight, unaffected. "We won't join your posse again," Turtle shouted, "personally I've grown out of your pop junk, so how about we rock?"

Sharp Chord sent a red beam at Turtle, who blocked it with his shield but got sent flying back. "Jade," Ladybug shouted into the headset.

"Don't worry Red," Turtle said, "nothing's broken. Well except for my everything."

"Don't you ever get sick of that my everything hurts joke," Queen Bee said.

"It isn't a joke," Turtle replied, "my everything actually hurts."

"Guys focus," Ladybug said.

Sharp Chord let out another scream and swept the rest of the team launching them back. "I bet your everything hurts now Stripes," Turtle said as everyone groaned in pain.

"Shut it Shelly," Bee replied.

"Hey," Turtle said with anger, "Jade or Rookie. I won't take Shelly as a nickname."

"Sorry Shelly," Queen Bee said, "did I touch a nerve."

"Focus," Ladybug yelled, "we need to get his headset so he can't hit us like that again."

"Hey nicknames are important," Turtle said.

"Well Rookie," Cat said, "can we figure out nicknames when someone isn't trying to kill us."

Turtle then blocked another blast from Sharp Chord. "Alright," Turtle said reluctantly, "but we're not done with this Stripes."

"Whatever you say Shelly," Queen Bee said.

"We need a plan," Ladybug said, "and I know where to start." Ladybug threw her yoyo into the air and shouted, "LUCKY CHARM." A red and black wooden spatula landed in her hands.

"Great," Cat said, "now we can cook our last meal."

"Quiet Kitty," Ladybug said, "I need to think." She searched the stage for anything that could help her and eventually she came up with a plan. "Jade, Volpina, Queen Bee, keep him on that stage."

Both of them followed their orders. "ILLUSION," Volpina shouted making a horde of Volpinas, Jade Turtles, and Queen Bees surround the villain. Sharp Chord blasted at the cluster of heroes, eliminating the illusions one by one.

Ladybug continued with her orders, "Cat Noir, destroy those support beams above to make a cage."

Cat Noir followed his orders. "CATACLYSM," he shouted as he jumped up to the beams above destroying it so that they all fell around Sharp Chord.

"Queen catch," Ladybug said as she threw the spatula behind the make shift cage they made and one of the Queen Bees caught it. "In his mouth," Ladybug said continuing her orders. Queen Bee knew what she meant. When Sharp Chord took a deep breath to prepare for a scream, Queen Bee took the spatula and put it in his mouth so he was biting down on the handle.

"HONEY BEE," Queen shouted making honey appear from the end of her hands, sticking the ends of the ends of the spatula to his cheeks.

Ladybug jumped up to the make shift cage as Sharp Chord struggled to get the spatula out of his mouth. She grabbed the speaker on his chest and smashed it over her knee, releasing the small purple and black butterfly. "No more evil doing for you little akuma," Ladybug said as she opened her yoyo. "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE," She shouted as she flung her yoyo towards the little bug, capturing it inside. She then opened it and released the small white butterfly while saying, "bye bye little butterfly." She then threw the spatula up into the air shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" All of the damage that had been created by Sharp Chord's blasts to the destruction on the stage Cat Noir had caused in a wave of red and black.

"Where am I," XY said as he looked around.

"Pound it," the five heroes said as they all fist bumped.

"Alright Stripes," Turtle said turning towards Queen Bee, "let's talk about this Shelly thing."

Queen Bee's hair comb beeped, four minutes left. "Sorry Shelly," Queen Bee said, "but I gotta bolt, maybe another day."

"Fine," Turtle mumbled, "but this isn't over Buzz Brain."

"Not in your dreams Shell Head," Queen Bee said before taking off.

"We better go to," Ladybug said as her earrings beeped, "Come on Kitty."

Cat Noir stood up from where he was leaning down talking to XY. "Alright my lady," Cat said and the two took off.

"Let me guess you're leaving too," Turtle said as he turned toward Volpina, but she had already left, "and not even a goodbye." He walked over toward XY, "you gonna be ok." XY nodded. "That's good," Turtle said, "so what were you all upset about."

"I've been dropping in popularity," XY said, "I used to be able to do holo-concerts and now I can't even headline a show."

"I'm a musician myself," Turtle said, "and I wasn't popular either, but I didn't give up. Even when no one listened, I kept making music. Keep on kicking and eventually you'll make it back to the top soon."

"Yeah," XY said, "yeah yeah. You're right." He hopped up to his feet, "I'm not gonna give up, I'm gonna make a new album and I'll make it back to number one and be doing concerts like this again in no time."

"That's the spirit," Turtle said, "so you good?"

"I'm great," XY said, "I'm gonna go make my new album right now." XY ran off cheering himself on.

"They grow up so fast," Turtle said before he jumped away.

Marinette ran backstage looking for her friends. "Yo, Marinette," Nino shouted from across the backstage area. Marinette turned to see Adrien, Alya, Nino and Chloe and ran over to where they were all standing.

"Sorry," Marinette said as she walked up to her friends, "I went to the bathroom and then that akuma guy showed up so I hid."

"Don't worry," Nino said, "we get it. Any sane person would've done what you did. Which is how I've determined Alya is not sane."

"Excuse me," Alya said, "what is that supposed to mean."

"Well while most people run away from evil super villains," Chloe said, "you run towards them."

"So do we," Marinette whispered into Chloe's ear, which made her laugh.

"Well now that we're done questioning Alya's sanity," Adrien said, "has anyone seen Sam?" Everyone shook their heads. "The show starts in ten minutes," Adrien continued, "he's gonna miss the opener, I know he was excited for that."

Suddenly all their phones buzzed, it was a group text from Sam,

 **Sam 4:03 PM:** _Front row is the VIP seats, you guys should be 6-10, mines 11. I'll meet up with you after the opener, just gotta do some things, It'll make sense soon._

Everyone tried texting him, but he didn't respond. "It's a shame," Chloe said, "I know he really wanted to see The Rainmakers."

"Yeah," Marinette said, "I wonder why he had to miss."

"Well we better get to our seats," Adrien said, "the show starts in a couple of minutes. He said he'd meet us after the opener, we can ask him then." Everyone nodded and followed Adrien to their seats. The seats were exactly where Sam had said they would be, down to the numbers of the seats. Everyone took their seats with Alya and Nino taking six and seven, Chloe taking eight, and Adrien and Marinette taking nine and ten.

"Great," Chloe said, "surrounded by the happy couples."

"If you want we can trade seats Chloe," Marinette said, "then you can sit by Sam, and I sense something special between you two."

"What no... I... no" Chloe struggled to find the words.

Marinette laughed, "you were the one who wanted to go to his house for no reason."

"I'll switch seats with you if it'll shut you up," Chloe said as the two traded seats. Marinette laughed and then put her head on Adrien's shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her."

The lights then dimmed until the whole area was pitch black. Eventually a single light came on over the drummer as he started playing, then the keyboardist as she started, then the bass player, then the guitar. The voice of the singer then rang out from the darkness, " _I hear the voices in the night... so terrifying, give me fright... I feel the wind, I feel the pain... everything's driving me insane."_ The final stage light came on revealing familiar figure wearing a black leather jacket with a cloth hood, brown hair with purple bangs, and hazel eyes staring down the audience.

"No way," Marinette said.

"It can't be," Chloe said.

"Dude," Nino said

"Wow," Alya said.

Adrien was just at a loss for words.

" _I know that I lost my way,"_ Sam kept singing, " _and now I'm thrown into the fray... but the streets are cruel with how they are... and I'm not getting very far. I'm paranoid, I'm paranoid, its eating me alive. I'm paranoid, I'm paranoid, it's eating at my mind. I can't sleep, I can't eat, yet somehow I survive. I'm paranoid so why why why... do I even try."_ The music stopped and Sam addressed the audience, "HELLO PARIS." The whole crowd cheered, except for the five members of the front row who were still surprised by their friend on stage. Sam continued, "Now normally I have a nice little duet with our keyboard player here," he waved his arm towards where the keyboardist was sitting, "but she unfortunately lost her voice and cannot sing with me." The whole crowd seemed to let out a simultaneous sigh of disappointment. "Now now," Sam said, "I happened to find a friend who was willing to sing with me," the crowd cheered again, "and I picked a song dedicated to the heroes of this city and a person who supports them immensely." He then extended a hand towards Marinette, "Come join me on stage Ms. Marinette."

Marinette didn't know what to say. "Go," Adrien said pushing her towards the stage, "who knows when you'll get another chance to sing at a concert like this."

Marinette walked over and grabbed Sam's hand, who promptly pulled her onto the stage. "Hope you memorized that song Strings," Sam whispered in her ear.

"I can't do this," Marinette whispered back, "there's too many people."

"Just pretend the audience isn't there," Sam said, "that's what I do, or you could focus on one person." Sam then pointed at the keyboardist and she started playing the familiar piano medley.

"Just focus on one person," Marinette mumbled to herself. She looked around and set her eyes on Adrien and smiled, then took a deep breath, " _Another day, I'm back at school, I think about him he's so cool. He looks at me, I look away but does he see me anyway. oh oh oh, He's got me spinning round. oh oh oh, my feet are off the ground. oh oh oh, and when the sun goes down that's when I become,"_ Sam then joined for the melody, " _Miraculous simply the best up to the test when things go wrong. Miraculous, the luckiest, the power of love always so strong."_

After The Rainmakers finished there was a brief intermission in order for Jagged Stone to set up. Adrien, Alya, Chloe, Nino, And Marinette all met up at a small lobby. "You were great," Adrien said as he gave Marinette a hug, then placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Gotta admit Strings," Sam said as he walked up, "you were pretty good."

"Why didn't you tell us man," Nino said, "you're a major rock star opening for Jagged Stone."

"Well I could've told you," Sam said, "but this way of you finding out was way more fun."

"Wait," Alya said, "what if we hadn't bought the tickets?"

"Well I was going to give you passes," Sam said, "but you had your own so I gave them away to some random Jagged Stone fans."

"How long have you been planning this," Adrien asked.

"'Bout a month or so," Sam said, "but Marinette singing I came up with yesterday. Our keyboardist did lose her voice and I needed to find a replacement quick. when I saw Marinette was late too, I jumped at the opportunity."

"Wow," Chloe said, "so that's why the singer sounded familiar. Wait, are you so egotistical that you listen to your own music?"

"Yes," Sam said, "but I haven't played those songs since I came to France, so I decided to listen to my own music in order to remember it."

"What about not making public appearances," Marinette asked.

"Parents didn't like me being in a band," Sam said, "but I'm in another country, what are they gonna do?"

"You're insane," Alya said.

"Thank you," Sam said as he reached into his pockets, "that reminds me, I promised that I'd get you a Rainmakers CD." He then handed the small CD case to Chloe, "and I got one for all of you guys too." He gave everyone their own CD's, "can you believe I managed to get all of them signed by all of the band members."

Chloe punched him in the arm, "you're an idiot."

"but I'm your idiot guys," Sam said.

"We better go back in before Jagged Stone starts," Adrien said. Everyone agreed and they all went back to their seats.

 **END**

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO COME UP WITH A LUCKY CHARM


	6. Wolfman

Before I start this chapter, I wanna say I made some concept art for Jade Turtle in my free time and you can check it out here post/162724325813/concept-art-for-my-miraculous-fan-fiction-that-i

go ahead and check it out (I don't know if the link will work or not though)

The Wolfman

Everyone was excited for Halloween. Only a couple of days left until the big day, more importantly the big costume party being thrown by Mayor Bourgeois. In the good spirit of the holiday the mayor had decided to throw a big party with a bunch of celebrities and big names in Paris, and of course his little girl and her friends. Chloe invited all of the team, as well as Nino, Sam, and the rest of the class. She also requested that Marinette make everyone on the team their costumes, which she happily agreed to do. Chloe even had a group costume planned for the team, having each hero dress in someone else's super suit. Adrien was going to be Volpina, Marinette was going Cat Noir, Alya was going to be Queen Bee, Chloe happily accepted being Ladybug. And purely in the spirit of the holiday, Marinette also was going to make the kwamis small costumes as well. Chloe planned to win her fathers costume contest, at least the group costume portion.

"Just a couple more days," Chloe said as she watched Marinette sew the costumes together.

"These costumes look so good," Pollen said as she flew by where Marinette was stitching together the costumes, "creative and fashionable."

"Thanks Pollen," Marinette said with a smile.

"And I finally get to be Ladybug," Chloe said, doing a little dance in her seat, "I remember those times I would dress as Ladybug and run around daddy's hotel."

"I remember too," Marinette said, "mostly because it led Lady Wi-Fi, Vanisher, and Anti-Bug."

"How could anyone tolerate me," Chloe said, flopping back on Marinette's bed, "I caused so many akumas. Dark Cupid, Princess Fragrance, Lady Wi-Fi..."

"and I caused you and Lila to get akumatized," Marinette added, "and now you're a hero who saves people from Hawk Moth and his akumas."

"And you're good at it too," Tikki chimed in, "in fact I think you're as good as Marinette."

"I personally think so," Marinette said, "so good you probably could be Ladybug if you try." Marinette the threw a red and black costume at Chloe, "so why don't you try."

Chloe laughed and then walked away to go try on the Ladybug costume. Chloe came back a couple of minutes later wearing the costume, and immediately noticed Marinette made some small changes. Marinette gave the suit black gloves and boots as well as a short cape resembling ladybug wings. "It's beautiful," Chloe said as she spun around admiring the costume.

"And what would Ladybug be without her kwami," Pollen said as she flew around Chloe in a small red hood with black spots.

"Pollen you look so adorable," Chloe said, cradling the yellow kwami in her palms.

"Like I said," Pollen went on, "they are fashionable."

Chloe let out a small laugh before looking over at Marinette. She had also put on her costume, hers looking almost exactly like Cat Noir except for the lack of sleeves. Instead it had a long pair of gloves that went up to the her elbows. Her normal red hair ties were replaced with black ones, she also slightly messed up her hair to match the way Adrien wore his when he was Cat Noir. She had drawn cat whiskers on her face as well as wore a mask similar to Cat Noir's but with the addition of small points on her mask resembling cat ears. "Well my lady," She said extending a hand towards Chloe, "shall we go catch up with the others."

"First get me Camembert," Tikki said, wearing a small hood resembling a black cat.

Chloe laughed so hard that she fell back, Marinette ran to help her up. "You should be more careful," Marinette said as she pulled Chloe up, "just because you're pretending to be me doesn't mean you should be clumsy."

"Aw, and I was gonna be late for class tomorrow too," Chloe said, making both of them laugh.

"Come on," Marinette said, "we should change and go meet Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Sam." Chloe nodded and after a couple minutes, both had changed back into their street clothes and went off to meet the others at the Bourgeois hotel. They were all planning to meet there to help with decorations, despite Chloe's father saying that they could just have the workers do it, but Marinette wanted to put some personal Halloween input and everyone wanted to help her.

They walked to the large hotel, Marinette carrying a small bag containing all the costumes so that Alya and Adrien could try on theirs. When they eventually got to the hotel, the doorman immediately opened the door so they could get through, walking into the large lobby of the hotel and heading straight for the large ballroom where the party was going to be.

Adrien and Alya were already there putting up decorations, meanwhile Nino was in the back of the room setting up his DJ equipment with Sam setting up some of the Rainmakers equipment. "Hey," Chloe shouted waving her hand. Everyone briefly stopped what they were doing to look at Chloe.

Everyone walked out towards where Chloe and Marinette were standing. "Hey dudes what took you so long," Nino said over the mic at his turntable.

"We were making the costumes for the party Saturday," Marinette said as she held up the small bag.

"Well Marinette made them," Chloe said, "I just watched."

"At least you're honest," Alya said, "Now let me see the costume I want to try it on."

Marinette handed the small bag to Alya who promptly ran with it, with Adrien running behind yelling at her to give him his costume. after a couple of minutes Alya and Adrien came back wear their costumes. Alya's costume was pretty much the same as Chloe's Queen Bee suit with the addition of some bee wings on the back.

Adrien's costume was very different however. Instead of having the standard skin tight suit like everyone else, his costume was very loose fitting. He wore a white t-shirt with under an orange leather jacket, he also had orange leather pants with black boots and white gloves. The ears on top of his head were less like the one's Alya had, which were short similar to the ones he had as Cat Noir, and more like the ones Lila had, long and slim.

"You guys look so cool," Chloe said as she circled around the two and looked at them. She was so impressed with Marinette's detail, even the fake miraculouses she had made for the costumes looked authentic. She noticed the small kwamis floating behind Adrien and Alya so that their costumes could be seen as well. Plagg was wearing a orange fox hood and Trixx wearing a yellow hood with black stripes on it, Chloe couldn't resist letting out an aw at how cute the two kwamis were. After being seen by Chloe, the kwamis went back into hiding before Nino or Sam could see them.

"You look awesome," Nino said, "where's mine?"

"Oh... I... uh," Marinette forgot about Nino, she was a little upset because she could've made him a Jade Turtle costume to finish the set.

Nino laughed. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. I already got a costume."

Marinette let out a sigh of relief at that. "Good, I was not ready to make another costume."

"Good because I'm making my own costume," Sam said, "always preferred it to store bought and I get to add my own touches."

"What are you going as," Alya said as she admired her Queen Bee costume.

"Ironically enough," Sam said, "I'm going as Jade Turtle. I already made the mask as well as his fancy cloak thing."

"one, that's not irony," Marinette said, "and two, he doesn't wear a mask. He wears goggles."

"Oh," Sam hung his head but was happy that screwing up his own costume would drive some suspicion away from him. He was worried they may be catching on because of how he disappeared during lunch and fell asleep during class because of his late night patrols.

"You know you could've asked me to make your costume," Marinette said, "I made the costumes for everyone else, I could've made yours as well."

"I just wanted to make this one on my own," Sam said, "that Turtle guy has helped me a couple times, wanted to show my gratitude by making a costume of him."

"Well I guess I understand that," Chloe said, "I did the same thing when Ladybug saved me."

"So where is the costume," Marinette said as she looked around searching for it.

"I didn't bring it," Sam said, "wasn't finished and I didn't want to mess it up while I set up the band equipment."

"So when can we see it," Adrien said as he got in Sam's face.

Sam gently pushed Adrien away, "You can see it Saturday, at the party."

"Aw," Alya said as she got close to Sam, "but what's a Queen Bee without her Jade Turtle."

"Happy," Chloe and Sam said simultaneously. They briefly looked at each other, then laughed at their own joke.

"It wasn't that funny," Adrien said, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know," Marinette said as she put on her Cat Noir mask, "I thought it was purr-fect."

Everyone let out a laugh at that. "Well we had better get back to work," Adrien said, "we only got so much time before this place needs to be ready." Everyone nodded and went back to work while Alya and Adrien went to take off their costumes so they didn't mess them up, they came back a few minutes later to continue helping.

The next day, the team basically all slept through class. The entire team worked late on the ballroom for the party to get it finished so they wouldn't have to work on it tomorrow, that didn't work. It also didn't help that after that all of them had to go on patrol, Jade Turtle had insisted they do but the entire time him and Queen Bee just argued. None of them got to bed until about one in the morning. Nino luckily wasn't on patrol, everyone was so glad they had one normal friend, and gave them the notes for class that day. After school everyone went back to the ballroom and finished setting up, Sam tuning and setting up instruments, Nino checking his records as well as testing his equipment, Chloe and Alya setting up the various tables and putting Halloween table cloths and decorations on them, and Marinette and Adrien were hanging streamers, paper jack-o-lanterns, and cobwebs on the ceiling.

"It looks amazing," Mayor Bourgeois said as he walked in.

"Thank you daddy," Chloe said as she ran over and gave him a hug, "but it was mostly Marinette's creative eye, we just put up the decorations."

"And set up the music," Sam shouted from across the room.

"And set up the music," Chloe reiterated to her father.

"Well it all is amazing," Mayor Bourgeois said as he admired the room.

"Thank you sir," Marinette said as she climbed down from the ladder she was on, "We've been happy to help."

"Yes I'm glad you did," Mayor Bourgeois said shaking Marinette's hand, "There is no one I could hire who could have done a better job." Marinette blushed a bit at the compliment and lowered her head so the mayor wouldn't see. "You have outdone yourself," he continued as he admired everything, "now you all of you should get home and get ready for the party tomorrow." Everyone nodded and proceeded to leave the ballroom.

Chloe went to the penthouse suite in the hotel and tried on the costume Marinette made, simply admiring the beauty of it in the mirror. "You know," Pollen said as she flew around Chloe, "if you wear it all the time, it'll eventually get ruined."

"Don't worry Pollen," Chloe said, "I'm gonna take it off, I just wanted to see it one more time."

"You really have been excited for this party haven't you," Pollen said, "you've been decorating, helping with the costumes, everything!"

"What can I say," Chloe said with a smile, "it's my first Halloween since I've become part of the team and I want it to be memorable." Chloe walked away and changed back into her yellow jacket and the rest of her street clothes. When Chloe came back, someone was knocking on the door. She walked over to the door of her penthouse and opened it to see a wolf.

Chloe panicked and fell backward. "I'm sorry miss," the wolf said as he took off his mask to reveal a young man with black hair wearing thick rimmed glasses, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine," Chloe said, "just not every day you open your door to see a wolf."

The kid helped Chloe back onto her feet, "again I'm so sorry. I was just looking for people to join my wolf pack for the party tomorrow."

"Wolf pack," Chloe said in confusion, "What's that supposed to be?"

"A group costume for the contest tomorrow," the kid said as he pulled his stuff together, "the name's Eric and I'm looking for people to join me for my group costume so we can win the costume contest at Mayor Bourgeois' party tomorrow."

"Wouldn't it be better to get some friends to help with your costume," Chloe asked giving a skeptical look.

"No," Eric said, "because werewolves randomly pick who they want to transform. That and I don't have any friends."

"Oh," Chloe said, she felt bad but didn't know what to do, "I'm sorry but I already got a costume, in fact it's a group costume."

"That's fine," Eric said with a smile, but Chloe could see in his eyes that he was upset, "I can find other..."

"Hey," one of the employees of the hotel shouted from down the hall, "I told you that you're not supposed to be up here."

"I got to run," Eric said before running off to escape the employee.

"Well he was interesting," Pollen said as Chloe closed the door and sat down.

"Of all places he could look for candidates for his wolf pack," Chloe said as she thought about Eric, "why the penthouse suite in the Bourgeois hotel?"

Pollen let out a shrug with her tiny stubs, "maybe he really wanted you."

Chloe shook her head, "can't be. Until recently, I wasn't exactly nice or humble. He'd have to be crazy to think Chloe Bourgeois would go along with any idea that wasn't her own."

Pollen thought for a second, "well then I have no idea."

Chloe quickly put the thought out of her mind and decided to watch some TV. After a good nights rest, Chloe got up and prepared for the party. She checked her costume to make sure she had all the pieces, watched the news for a bit to make sure there were no akuma attacks, and finally it was time.

Chloe put on her costume and helped Pollen into her hood before going downstairs to the lobby to meet up with everyone else. She quickly got there and saw Marinette, Alya, and Adrien as well as Sam in his Jade Turtle costume. It was surprisingly well made, however Chloe noticed there were some differences between Sam's costume and Shelly's suit. Sam had green sleeves and pants instead of yellow and wore a small green mask over his face instead of goggles. Other than that the costume was pretty accurate.

"There you are lady," Marinette said as she bowed in front of Chloe and stretched out her hand, "waiting for you to arrive was paw-sitively dreadful."

"Boo," Adrien said with his hands cupped over his mouth, "your puns are terrible."

"I purr-sonally think they're a-mew-zing," Marinette said as she walked over to Adrien and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Hey," Chloe said with her arms crossed, "I thought I was your lady?"

"You are my lady," Marinette said, "but he's my gentleman."

"You sure do make a good tomcat," Alya said through her laughter.

"And you make a good buzz brain," Sam said turning to Alya.

"Is that so Shell Head," Alya said as she go on her toes to get in Sam's face.

Chloe laughed at how good Sam's imitation of Shelly was. "Well come on," Chloe said once she stopped laughing, "we better get to the party."

Everyone followed Chloe into the ballroom and gasped in awe. They knew the room looked good during the day, but the way it looked in the night was creepy. It was only lit by the paper jack-o-lanterns Adrien and Marinette had hung earlier, leaving a haunting light on the already creepy decorations they had placed on the tables. But they were all more in awe about the celebrities. They could see Jagged Stone, XY, and celebrities that the team couldn't even recognize.

"Hey guys," Nino said as he walked by carrying a box of records. Everyone got to see his costume for the first time. It was a red hoodie with yellow and blue stripes painted around the arms with a blue stripe painted around the waist as well as a yellow waist band he also had a black dot on his chest with two black lines going from the dot over to his shoulders and down his back into a yellow backpack he was wearing that had some handle sticking out of it. He was also wearing black pants, gloves and boots, the boots having yellow and blue stripes painted at the top. Finally he was wearing blue face paint around his eyes with a black dot above his left eye and another below his right eye. Everyone was shocked to see that Nino was dressed as the Bubbler.

Everyone went silent in shock, except for Sam, "what are you meant to be?"

"The Bubbler," Nino said as he put the small box by his turntable, "it's who I was when I got akumatized."

"Why would you want to be that," Sam asked as he scanned Nino's costume.

"Because I wasn't the only one who agreed to these costumes," Nino said as he gestured to certain people around the room, specifically their classmates. They could see the costumes everyone was wearing. Kim was Dark Cupid, Rose was Princess Fragrance, Juleka was Reflekta, and Ivan was Stoneheart, but those were just the ones that that they were able to see. "When you guys said you were going as the heroes," Nino continued, "Rose came up with the idea that you guys were going to need villains."

"That's amazing," Adrien said as he looked at all the different costumes, "crazy, but amazing."

"I had planned to do something similar," Sam said, "but I didn't to set myself on fire."

Everyone laughed, until the mood was killed by someone yelling across the room. "No one wants to help with your stupid idea," a mysterious voice shouted. Everyone turned to see some person they didn't recognize yelling at someone Chloe recognized.

"But dad," Eric said, wearing his full werewolf costume and holding a second wolf mask.

"No I'm done listening," The other person, apparently Eric's dad, went on, "you've been running around the hotel all week looking for people to join your wolf pack. I've had to tell the hotel employees to make you stop."

"But dad," Eric said.

"Excuse me," Chloe said as she walked over to where Eric and his father were arguing, "but can I ask whats going on?"

"Yeah," Eric's father said, "I got my kid a wolf necklace when he was young and now he's obsessed with them."

"It's not an obsession," Eric yelled at his father, but his father didn't listen.

"And now he's trying to get other people involved by getting them these stupid wolf masks," his father said as he took one of the wolf masks his son was holding, "Your idea is ridiculous and this obsession is childish." He then took the mask he was holding and ripped it in two.

Eric stared at the ripped mask that his father had thrown on the ground. Eric then took off his own mask to reveal the tears he had in his eyes. Eric opened his mouth to speak but instead ran out of the ballroom in tears.

"Eric wait," Chloe yelled as she followed behind him, but she got stopped by her father.

"Chloe I need your help," He said but Chloe was just focused on getting around her father and wasn't paying attention.

"Uh... Yeah I'll help," Chloe said just trying to get past her father, not even knowing what she was agreeing to just wanting to get by before anything bad happened. Suddenly a loud howl echoed into the ballroom and rang in the ears of the patrons of the party. Many people thought it was part of the party and simply admired the sound, until a large werewolf burst through the doors of the ballroom. Everyone ran in fear from the monster, Sam being one of the first out the door with the rest of the class and the other patrons following behind him, however some people fell behind the others and were caught by the werewolf, who promptly scratched them on their chests. As soon as the creature placed his claws upon the civilians, they transformed into werewolves as well. "Welcome to the Wolfman pack," the creatures would say every time they caught someone and transformed them.

Chloe grabbed her friends and guided them to a large storage room. "We need to transform fast," Chloe said as Pollen flew out from under the wing of Chloe's costume.

"These creatures are transforming everyone into Wolfmen," Tikki said as she flew out, "we're going to need to stop them."

"We know," Plagg said as he took off his fox hood, "but thank you for stating the obvious."

"Alright everyone," Marinette said, "let's get to work."

"Tikki, Spots On!"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Pollen, Stingers Out!"

"Trixx, Tail Up!"

The four heroes ran back into the ballroom to see that the one Wolfman had become a horde of them. "Glad you could join us," one of the Wolfmen said, "my pack outnumbers you, you cannot win. Give me your miraculous and we will not make you part of my pack."

"No thanks" Cat Noir said with a smile, "but the world may end the day a cat listens to a dog."

"Then we shall take them by force," the Wolfmen leader said. At these words, his pack attacked the heroes and forced them to go on the defensive. Each of the heroes just dodged and parried any attack that was thrown at them, trying to avoid the claws in order to not be transformed. They were desperately outnumered and could get nowhere near the Wolfmen leader, much less search for the akuma.

"We can't keep up like this," Ladybug shouted as she ducked under another swipe from one of the Wolfmen.

"There isn't much we can do," Volpina said as she parried another strike with her flute, "there's too many of them."

"We have to do something," Queen Bee said as she flipped over one of the Wolfmen, but it caught on to her technique and backhanded her into a wall. The Wolfman slowly walked over to her and prepared to transform her like the rest. However when he went for the strike, he was blocked by a familiar green figure.

"You know Stripes," Jade Turtle said as he held up the Wolfman's paw, "we really need to stop meeting like this."

"Good to see you too Shelly," Queen Bee said as she stood up.

Jade Turtle threw the Wolfman off of his shield and prepped it to block another attack. "This is a nice party," Turtle said as he blocked another attack, "I'm just gonna assume my invitation got lost in the mail."

"A Shell Head like you couldn't get an invitation to a party like this," Queen Bee said as she used her trompo to throw one of the Wolfmen across the room.

"Give up," the pack leader shouted at them, "you can not defeat the pack."

"Then we'll just beat you," Cat said as he jumped at the pack leader, only to promptly receive a quick slash to the chest from one of the other members of the pack.

"NO," Ladybug's voice rang through the room. everyone was in shock as they saw their friend get transformed into another Wolfman

Turtle didn't focus on this for long. "REWIND," Turtle shouted at the top of his lungs. Suddenly time reset itself to before Cat Noir was scratched.

"Give up," the pack leader shouted, "you can not defeat the pack."

"Then we'll just defeat you," Cat said as he jumped at the pack leader. Another Wolfman jumped to attack Cat Noir in the air, but got slammed by Turtle using his shield as a projectile. Cat Noir then smacked his staff against the pack leader sending him flying against a wall.

"Nice job Cat," Turtle shouted as he caught his shield, but then got scratched by a Wolfman from behind.

"ROOKIE," Cat shouted as he ran over to help his friend, smacking away any of the Wolfmen that got in his way. When he got to his friend, Turtle promptly kicked him in his chest to knock him away.

"RUN," Turtle shouted to his friends, "GET AWAY!"

Ladybug didn't want to admit it, but Jade was right. "Everyone retreat," Ladybug shouted as she jumped away from the Wolfmen, "We need to regroup and come up with a plan."

"What about the Rookie," Cat asked as he ran toward Ladybug, "we can't just leave him."

"We have to," Ladybug said, "he told us to get away, so that's what we'll do. We have a better chance at saving him if we come up with a plan and stop the pack leader."

Cat looked back at where his friend was only to see another Wolfman. "Alright," Cat said as he hung his head, and the whole team fled to outside the ballroom, into the lobby, and outside onto the rooftops.

Once the team reached a point where they felt the Wolfmen couldn't get them, or at least not get them for a while, they all stopped to catch their breath. "So what do we do," Volpina said as she searched around to make sure no Wolfmen were nearby.

"We need to find the akuma," Ladybug said, "it's obvious that the pack leader has it, but what could it be."

Queen Bee thought for a second, thinking of everything she heard from the exchange between Eric and his father. The entire wolf costume he was wearing became part of his body, can't be that. He left the ripped mask in the ballroom when he got akumatized, not that. Then she thought of something she didn't see, but knew Eric had. "It's a wolf necklace," Queen Bee shouted out, "it was the only thing the akuma victim was wearing that would make sense to hold it."

"Ok," Cat said. He was clearly upset about what happened to Turtle, judging by the lack of his joking nature. "So how do we get it."

"No idea," Queen Bee said as she thought about how to get something off his chest without meeting those claws. She sat down on one of the vents on the rooftop and tried to think.

Everyone sat in silence trying to think about how to get that necklace. "We're just gonna have to hope that our powers can help us when we get to that point," Ladybug said, breaking the long silence, "we need to worry about how to find the pack leader."

"You should not worry about that," A dark familiar voice said. Everyone turned to see the pack leader and a small group of his wolves behind him. Just as queen had thought, they could see a small silver wolf hanging from around his neck. "I have been personally tasked to stop you," the Wolfman said, "I want my pack to expand, it would be a waste to have everyone in my pack come after a mere four heroes."

"Shame," Cat said with anger, "you're certainly going to need the help." Cat charged the pack leader smacking away all of the lackeys that he had brought with him and went on the offensive. The rest of the team simply kept the other Wolfmen away from Cat as he went on a rampage against the leader.

"I believe this is the first time a Cat has chased a dog," the pack leader said as he blocked the different attacks from Cat's staff.

"Well that's what happens when you hurt my friends," Cat said as let out a furious barrage.

"Cat keep your head," Ladybug shouted, "don't let your anger get the better of you." She spoke too late. Cat rushed his attacks and in return he screwed up and got a scratch across his chest. Cat Noir fell to the floor and began growing hair.

"CAT," Ladybug screamed, Queen Bee threw her trompo around her in order to pull her away from the other Wolfmen before could get her. Ladybug tried to pull against Queen to go help Cat.

"Ladybug," Queen Bee shouted as she held back her friend, "you said it yourself, the best way to save them is to stop the leader." Ladybug didn't listen, she kept resisting, she kept trying to help Cat Noir despite him being fully transformed. "You're gonna hate me when you wake up bug," Queen Bee said before hitting her friend on the head and knocking her unconscious. "Volpina, we need to move."

Volpina listened and promptly finished beating away the last of the Wolfmen that were near her, but then one managed to slip behind her and scratch her on the back.

"VOLPINA," Queen Bee shouted, as her other friend fell to the floor.

"JUST GO," Volpina shouted back, "GET YOURSELF AND BUG AWAY BEFORE THEY GET YOU TOO!"

Queen Bee didn't want to, but she followed her friends orders and grabbed the unconscious Ladybug and started jumping across the roof tops to escape the Wolfmen. A couple of them fell when they tried to make the jump, but most of them kept following behind. Queen Bee kept running, occasionally jostling her arm in order to keep Ladybug on her shoulder. It was just the two of them now, and she knew if Ladybug got scratched there would be no hope of purifying the akuma.

Queen managed to get away from the Wolfmen after what felt like hours of running. She had run to the Eiffel tower, it was such a high point so it would take a while for any of the Wolfmen to climb up and the metal would hopefully ring against their claws so she could hear them coming. Queen layed her unconscious friend along the rail and then took a seat next to her. She needed a breather, after all that she could barely move her legs. She opened her trompo and looked at the time, it had been almost two hours since the first Wolfman appeared. She almost wanted to transform back so she could get to her phone and call Sam, but she knew that she couldn't do that. She was extremely worried about him for some reason, seeing as he'd been so nice and helpful to everyone. He even tried to be a hero as Blackbird. She could feel herself blush as she thought of his good deeds and shook the thought of Sam out of her mind.

"What's happening," Ladybug said as she woke up.

Queen Bee let out a sigh of relief that something else was happening to get her mind off Sam. "The Wolfmen are still on the attack," Queen Bee said, "you got knocked unconscious and I brought you here so we could rest." She didn't want to mention that she knocked her out.

"Where's Cat," Ladybug said as she looked around, still dazed from getting hit on the head, "and Volpina?"

"They were caught by the Wolfmen," Queen Bee said, looking at the ground.

"Do we know where the pack leader is," Ladybug said as she stood up and looked over the rail.

Queen shook her head, "I had to get you out of there so we still had a chance to purify the akuma."

"Alright," Ladybug said as she looked down on the city, Queen could tell that she was thinking about Cat Noir.

"Are you going to be ok," Queen Bee said, "I know what happened wasn't easy to see." Queen could see that she was scared, and who could blame her. All of their friends had already been transformed in front of them, and who knew who else could've gotten transformed while they were up here. She was scared for her family, for the rest of the class, because that's just who she was. She always cared more about other people. Queen respected that about her, Ladybug taught her what it really meant to be a hero. She taught her to be humble, kind, and generous. And it desperately scared Bee to see her friend scared

"I'll be fine," Ladybug said forcing a smile, "and they'll be fine too, we just need to stop the Wolfman prime."

Queen Bee nodded her head in agreement. "Right now we need to rest and recover," Queen Bee said, "we can focus on the Wolfmen after we recover."

"Good," a voice said from the opposite side of the tower, "that means we can focus on you." The Wolfman leader came around the tower followed by three more Wolfmen. Each of the other three Wolfmen had a familiar trait, one had black cat ears on his head, one had a green hood, and one had a fox necklace hanging around it's neck. The Wolfman leader had brought their friends to fight them. "I will request one more time," the leaders voice rang, "give me your miraculous, only this time I offer to release your friends."

"No," Ladybug shouted, "We'll beat you and then we'll get our friends back on our own."

"Then you shall fail," the pack leader shouted before sicking the Wolfman heroes on the two. Queen Bee and Ladybug just dodged the attacks, not wanting to hurt their friends.

"How do we stop them," Queen Bee shouted as she dodged an attack from the Volpina wolf.

"The same way we beat all of them," Ladybug said as she jumped between the Cat Wolf and the Turtle wolf, then threw her yoyo in the air shouting, "LUCKY CHARM." Suddenly a small red jump rope with black dots landed in her hands.

"Great," Queen Bee said as she wrapped her trompo around the Turtle wolf and slammed it into the tower, she didn't care that much about not hurting the Shell Head, "now we can play with the new pups."

Ladybug quickly looked around the tower in an attempt to come up with a plan involving her Lucky Charm. She scanned the tower and came up with a plan real quick. "BEE," Ladybug shouted, HONEY NET!"

Bee knew exactly what this meant, it was a move they had practiced before in their free time. At the words the two began spinning around the three Wolfmen heroes and tangled their weapons around the nearby support beams and railing until the other three heroes were surrounded by a net made of Ladybug's yoyo and Queen Bee's trompo. "HONEY BEE," Queen Bee shouted as she placed her hand against the net they had made to put a golden shell around it. Bee could hear the other heroes banging inside. Bee pulled her trompo out of the shell and it landed in her hand, as she let out a smirk she could feel a scratch on her back.

"BEE," Ladybug shouted as her friend went through the transformation like the others. Ladybug didn't know what to do, her plan involved Queen Bee helping her create a moving trip wire out of the jump rope. Not only was she alone now, now she needed to come up with a new plan, hoping her lucky charm could help her stop the two wolves that were in front of her. She quickly came up with a new plan, run.

She had to get away. Ladybug quickly fled off the side of the tower only to see more Wolfmen crawling up the side of the tower, she was surrounded with nowhere to go. It seemed like almost all of Paris had been transformed, even recognizing her mother and father, Nino, Rose, and Juleka among them. She was terrified at what had happened to her friends, to her family, but she tucked her fear down in order to save them. If she wasn't brave who would be.

Suddenly her earrings beeped, she only had three minutes left, Ladybug had to stop this now or else she might not be able to escape the Wolfmen again she stared at her jump rope and quickly tried to come up with another plan. She took her jump rope and wrapped it around one of the railings before jumping across and doing the same at another railing creating a form of trip wire. The Bee wolf and the pack leader charged as she expected, she jumped over them and kicked them against the trip wire, forcing them to fall forward and land on the golden honey shell that bee had made. Both of them struggled, but could not escape the honey trap. Ladybug walked over and pulled the wolf necklace off the leader and smashed it under her foot, releasing the butterfly inside.

"No more evil doing for you little akuma," Ladybug said as she opened her yoyo. She then threw it at the small butterfly while shouting, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" She then caught the small akuma inside. She then opened her yoyo again to release a beautiful white butterfly while saying, "bye bye little butterfly." She picked up her jump rope and threw it in the air with her signature words, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

The rope exploded into a wave of black and red, safely transforming everyone who was transformed into a wolf back into a human and safely put them at the bottom of the tower.

"What happened," a young boy, from what Ladybug remembered hi name was Eric, said as he sat up.

'I'd like to ask the same thing," Cat Noir said as he stood up and looked around.

"We won kitty," Ladybug said as she walked over and gave him the biggest hug she had ever given him. He smiled and hugged her out.

"You know what that means," Volpina said as she got up and held out her fist.

"Yeah," Queen Bee said as she walked over to Turtle on the floor and swiftly kicked him in the leg, "get up Shell Head." Suddenly she noticed something that made her eyes go wide and her face go red, the arms on Jade Turtle's outfit were green, not yellow. She let out a small scream as Turtle sat up and his hood fell off to reveal familiar brown hair with purple bangs.

Sam sat up and put his hands on his face, only to pause and look at the green arms of the costume, he realized he had changed back. He then realized the hood had also fallen off his head, thinking they would recognize his hair. "Uh... I can explain," Sam said trying to think something up.

"They must've mistaken you for the real Jade Turtle," Ladybug said as she walked over to help him.

"Uh... yeah that," Sam said, he had never been happier a group of people was so dense.

"Look you're okay now," Cat said, "so why don't you go back to the pa... uh... whatever you were doing before this happened."

"Yeah," Sam said as he ran down to the elevator and took it down to the ground floor.

"Guy's I'm waiting," Volpina said with her arm still outstretched.

Queen Bee shook her head in order to get her focus back and shake the red off her face and Ladybug and Cat Noir let go of each other and walked toward Volpina. "Pound it," all the heroes said as they put their fists together.

"Kinda weird doing that without the rookie," Cat said.

"We don't need Shell Head," Queen said, "besides everything would go so much easier without him."

"Yeah and you would've been crushed ten times over," Volpina said. Everyone laughed at the dumb joke. They all got interrupted by the beeping of Ladybug's earrings and Queen's comb beeped.

"We better run," Ladybug said, "otherwise we might miss the rest of the party."

"Are you talking about the Bourgeois party," Eric asked, "were you guys there?"

"Uh...no," Queen Bee said, "we were throwing our own Halloween party. You know how it is."

"We will be jumping past the hotel if you need a lift," Cat Noir said with a smile, "I can carry you as long as you don't get motion sick."

"I'll get there on my own," Eric said.

"Alright," Cat said, "stay safe, ok?" Eric nodded and Cat smiled in return. After that all of the miraculous holders jumped off and made their way back to the party

Everyone ran back to the hotel and changed back in the store room. Like they had expected, everyone had gone back to business as usual after the akuma attack. Nino had taken a break from being DJ and Sam and the rest of the Rainmakers were playing now, Sam having switched out of his Jade Turtle costume back to his black jacket but he did keep his mask on."

"Chloe," A voice came from behind the group, all of them turned to see Mayor Bourgeois running up to them. "Are you ok," he said, "you're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine daddy," Chloe said, pushing her father off of her to try and get some breathing room.

"Oh thank goodness," the mayor said as he let go of his daughter, "I was so worried for you."

"I'm fine," Chloe reiterated, "those wolves didn't even get near me."

"As long as you're fine," the mayor said as he stood up and and regained his composure, "if you don't want to judge the contest now because of what happened I would be fine with that."

"Contest," Chloe said with her confusion. She turned to her friends, but all of them just shrugged their shoulders or shook their heads.

"Don't you remember," Her father said with confusion, "I asked if you would judge the singles costume contest since you were only participating in the group cotest,"

Chloe only remembered agreeing to something, but not what she agreed to. "Um.. I don't know," Chloe said as she rubbed the back of her neck, then she saw a familiar face walk in and got an idea, "actually I'd be happy to do that."

"That is great," Mayor Bourgeois said as he clapped his hands together, "Just have your pick ready by the time your friend finishes his set."

Chloe nodded her head and her father walked off. She already had her pick ready, she just needed Sam to finish his set. Sam eventually finished his last song said good night to the people of the party and walked off stage. Mayor Bourgeois then walked on stage and took the microphone off of the stand. "Good evening everyone," Mayor Bourgeois said into the microphone, "how have you been enjoying the party." The crowd let out a loud cheer. "Very good," He continued, "and now we have a very important part of Halloween, the costumes." Everyone cheered again. "We have two categories, Singles and Groups. First to judge the Singles, my lovely daughter Chloe Bourgeois."

Chloe walked on stage and grabbed the microphone from her father, "thank you daddy. Now I'd like to say thank you all for coming and for showing your amazing creativity with these great costumes, however one stood out in particular today." She then jumped off stage and ran to grab her winner. She quickly ran back on stage with a familiar young man in a wolf costume, "I present to you Eric and his amazing werewolf costume." Everyone clapped and cheered as Chloe walked over and grabbed the large trophy as well as a large container that had been filled to the brim with candy. Chloe then leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Good job pack leader." Chloe could almost feel Eric blush through his mask. "Well that is all there is for my pick," Chloe said as she put the microphone back on it's stand, then stepped down off the stage.

"That was the akuma victim right," Sam said as Chloe walked back over to the group, he had switched back to his Jade Turtle costume, "pretty nice thing to do."

"Yeah I thought so," Chloe said.

"I think that may be the nicest thing you've ever done girl," Alya said as she wrapped an arm around her, "I can't believe you'd let that kid win."

"Yeah," Marinette said as she walked over to Chloe, "why did you do that."

"What can I say, Chloe said shrugging her shoulders, "maybe our new friend has inspired me to do more good." She leaned over and gave Sam a big hug. Chloe could see his face go bright red.

"Uh... Yeah," Sam said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hey," A familiar voice said, everyone turned to see Eric running up, not wearing his mask anymore, "thank you so much for that."

"You're welcome," Chloe said, "it was the least I could do after what happened."

"You got akumatized," Sam said, he had taken off his hood and mask so they could see his cold expression, "which is better than what you deserve."

"SAM," Chloe said, "how could you say..."

"Sam," Eric cut her off, his face faded into an almost wicked smile, "I haven't seen you in so long, how's it been going."

"Fine," Sam said staring Eric dead in the eyes, "at least until you showed up."

"Wait," Marinette said as she stepped between them, "you know each other."

"How rude," Eric said as he started pacing around Sam, "you never told your friends about me?"

"To be fair I try to forget about you," Sam said as he followedEric with his eyes not turning his body.

"Well now that I'm here you can't forget," Eric said stopping in front of Sam, "so introduce me."

Sam let out a long sigh, "everyone I want you to meet Eric Firgate, my brother."

"Wait what," Adrien said as he switched his stare between the two.

"You have a younger brother," Alya said as she studied Eric.

"Actually he's older," Sam said with a cocky smile.

"Always rubbing in that you're a couple inches taller than me," Eric said.

"Well and generally more mature," Sam said, "now tell me what are you doing in Paris?"

"Father had business here," Eric said, "but decide to attend this party in his free time, and you can guess how disappointed he was to see his favorite son playing his mediocre music like his father told him not to."

"I've never been one to follow orders," Sam said as he looked down on his brother, "but I know you are. So follow this one, leave."

"Seeing as father already left," Eric said with his wicked smile, "I'll join him, but expect a stern call from father soon."

"I will," Sam said with his cocky smirk, "and I will happily press the ignore button when he does."

Eric laughed, then turned and left the ballroom. "That was unpleasant," Adrien said.

"Every encounter with him is," Sam said with his cool joking expression returning, "any encounter with my family is."

"you really don't like your family," Alya asked as she put a hand on Sam's shoulder.

Sam shook his head, "I really don't want to talk about them right now."

"We understand," Marinette said, "let's move on."

"Thank you," Sam said.

"It's no problem," Chloe said, "we don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. We're here for you ok." She then gave Sam another hug, making him turn bright red again.

"Uh.. uh... yeah... uh... thanks," Sam said stumbling over his words.

Everyone let out a laugh at Sam struggling to talk. Suddenly they were all cut off by the music stopping and the sound of Mayor Bourgeois' voice booming from the speakers. "Now that you've all had a chance to congratulate our singles winner," He said into the microphone, "We will now go into the group costume contest. Our judge for this event is someone you all know that seemed perfect for the situation, Mr. Jagged Stone."

Jagged Stone hopped on stage and grabbed the microphone from out of Mayor Bourgeois' hand. "Thank you," He said as he grabbed the mic from the mayor's hand, "now I know I'm not one for fashion, besides my own that is, but I have been looking at the amazing groups of people around the party and have made my decision." Jagged Stone then ran off the stage and grabbed Marinette and the rest of the team and brought them all on stage. "I happily award the group contest victory to Ms. Marinette and her miraculous team."

Everyone was extremely surprised, they all didn't know what to say. Marinette was handed the large trophy and the large container of candy was handed to Chloe, however it was so big Adrien had to help hold it up. A cameraman walked up to get their picture. Chloe and Adrien put down the candy and Marinette put down the trophy. Everyone took a pose based on the hero that they were dressed as with Marinette holding her staff behind her back and placing a hand on the ground, Adrien planting the long reed flute into the ground and leaning on it, Alya holding her trompo and putting her other hand on her hip, Chloe holding her yoyo and doing a mild flexing pose, and Sam taking the fake shield off his back and prepping it in front of him. Each of them let out a big smile as the cameraman took their picture and all of them thought that despite all the trouble, this had been a good Halloween.

 **END**

 **EPILOGUE:**

He was standing in the center of the room, angry at the failure of his latest villain, he was angry at how they had defeated him once again, and most of all he was angry about how she would not stop taunting him. "A werewolf huh," She said pacing around him, "great idea. Nothing could go wrong."

"Silence yourself," He said in response, "or I will happily silence you."

"Easy now," She said in response, "I'm just saying, you could've just sent me and I'd have them by now."

"They have defeated you once," he said, "they will defeat you again. You have your mission."

"I know I know," She said as she sat on the seat behind her, "find the last miraculous so we can use it against them. I've heard your plan multiple times, I'm a little bit sick of hearing it in fact."

"If you are tired of hearing it," He said turning away from his large window to face her, "then perhaps you should find what I seek and then I will stop talking about it."

"Fine fine," She said as she stood up, "but it might help if you make an akuma that actually kept them busy for more than a couple of hours, I need more time without those goody two shoes punks so I can look for it."

"Well Empress," he said as he planted his walking stick into the ground, "perhaps you should just stop waiting for my akumas to attack and just look. You're wasting time."

"Listen," Empress said, getting in his face, "we both know if they catch wind of what I'm searching for, it'll only make it harder for me to find. So Hawk Moth, why don't you make a villain that can actually stop them."

Hawk Moth looked down on her and prepared to speak, but quickly spun around as his window opened, "Very well Empress, if you want a villain then I shall give you one as dramatic as you are." He then took one of the small butterflies that landed in his hands and put dark energy in it changing it from white to black and purple. "Now fly my akuma and help this soul prove that he is the true star of the show." He then turned and faced Empress, "And you go find the peacock miraculous."

"Yes sir," Empress said, jokingly making a bow before running out the door.


	7. Screenpain

Screenpain

"Just go talk to her," Adrien said as he tried to push Sam around the corner.

"I can't," Sam said, pushing back, "every time I talk to her I just end up stumbling over my words." Sam was scared bout talking to Chloe ever since the Halloween party. It was just a hug and yet he now got so nervous when he talked to her. Every time they talked he would just stutter and stumble over his words, he was worried that he might stumble and say something stupid. He avoided Chloe for almost a week.

"Dude," Nino said as he pulled Sam forward, "just talk to her, what's the worse that could happen."

"I say something stupid," Sam answered, "and then it ruins our friendship and then she can't tolerate being near me and decides to move to Tokyo."

"Alya told me stories of how Marinette would overreact about trivial things," Adrien said, "but I never believed them until now."

"Listen I can't do this," Sam said, "I've never asked someone out, what if I do something wrong?"

"Just stay calm and compose your words," Adrien said, "come up with something smooth to say."

"Alright," Sam said as he banged his fists together, "yeah yeah you're right, I can do this, I can do this." Sam turned the corner and saw Chloe on a bench reading a book, "I can't do this, I can't do this."

Adrien stopped him from running off, "stop panicking, just stay cool."

"That's easy for you Pretty Boy," Sam said, "I don't have your boyish charm." Suddenly a light bulb lit up in his mind, "How did you ask Marinette out? Maybe I can steal some of your charm?"

Adrien thought back to that night, Marinette had just transformed back in Cat Noir's arms. She passed out from exhaustion after defeating an akuma, so Cat took her back home and tucked her into bed. The next day, Adrien went and asked her out and she giddily said yes. On the way to the carnival, Adrien felt obligated to reveal that he was Cat Noir since he knew her secret, she freaked out. However after calming down the two enjoyed the carnival and then transformed to see the city lights. It was Adrien's favorite memory, but he couldn't tell Sam that. "It's a long story," Adrien said after he composed his thoughts.

"What about you," Sam said turning to Nino, "What about you and Alya?"

"During an akuma attack we got locked in a zoo pen together," Nino said with a goofy smile on his face, "and we talked for a couple hours and found put we have a lot in common."

"So either I don't know or zoo pen," Sam said, "great now I know exactly what to do."

"Just talk to her," Adrien reiterated, "worst she can say is no."

"I can think of fifty things worse," Sam said as he put his hands behind his head and started pacing back and forth.

"Ok, I'm done with this dude," Nino said as grabbed Sam's left arm, Adrien grabbed his right and the two lifted him off the ground.

"Hey put me down," Sam said as he struggled to break free. Adrien and Nino didn't listen and carried him over to where Chloe was sitting reading a book.

"Hey Chloe," Adrien said still holding Sam, "Sam has something to say you."

Adrien and Nino put Sam down and he froze up in front of Chloe. "Uh... hi," Sam eventually forced out.

"Hi," Chloe said as she slowly looked up from her book.

"I... uh... was... uh..." Sam continued to stumble over his words, "I... just... uh... hi." Sam tried to turn around and run but Adrien and Nino picked him back up and turned him around, this made Chloe laugh.

"So... uh..." Sam continued to struggle over his words, "I... wondered... uh... me and you... movies?"

Chloe laughed at Sam trying to force the words out, "I'd be happy to go to the movies with you if that's what you're asking."

"Uh... yeah," Sam said, "I... uh... yeah."

Chloe laughed again, "just breathe Sam." She then took a deep breath in and out, Sam followed her example and breathed in and out.

"Ok," Sam said, trying to get his cool composure back, "yeah ok. So would you like to see a movie sometime."

"Yes," Chloe said, "although I already answered that. I'm free Tuesday afternoon."

"Ok," Sam said with excitement, "I can do Tuesday. Wow, feels like the world's rolled off my shoulders." Chloe laughed at Sam once more and this time he laughed back, "now if you'll excuse me." He then turned around to look back at Adrien and Nino, now having fully regained his composure, "that was a bad move you two pulled."

"We were helping," Adrien said, "plus she said yes."

"Yeah," Sam said in reply, "and now I'm in a good mood, so you guys have a five second head start."

"Aw c'mon man," Nino said, "that's not cool."

"one," Sam said as he cracked his knuckles.

"oh come on can't we talk about this," Adrien said with the back of his hands pressed against his chest.

"Two," Sam said inching closer.

"Dude we can work this out," Nino said slowly inching back.

"Three," Sam said as he stretched his leg.

Nino and Adrien turned around and ran as fast as they could from Sam, not turning back. "How far do you think they'll go before they realize I'm not chasing them," Sam said as he put his hands into his pockets.

"Probably back to Adrien's house and lock all the doors," Chloe said as she leaned to see them run around the corner.

Sam let out a small laugh before the two got up to go to class. The next couple of days were painful, all Sam could think about was Tuesday. The only thing keeping him sane was the night patrols he did with the rest of the miraculous team, and even then he was driven crazy by Queen Bee.

"So I got plans tomorrow so can you guys patrol without me," Queen Bee said Monday night.

"What could you be doing that's so important," Turtle said.

"You have a date tomorrow don't you," Ladybug said as she scanned the streets.

"Yep," Queen Bee said with pride.

Turtle let out a laugh, "What guy would go out with you, Buzz Brain."

"Anyone would be lucky to date me," Bee said with a smile, "Unlike you Shell Head, I actually can get a date."

"I'll have you know," Turtle said with a smile, "I have a date too."

"and who would date you Kelp Breath," Queen Bee said getting in his face, "real quick I should tell you dinner with your mom isn't a date."

"Funny," Turtle said, "but no, I managed to ask a nice girl out for a simple date."

"oh yeah," Cat said as he tight roped walked along his staff between two exhaust vents, "who's the girl? Where you taking her?"

"Can't tell you and can't tell you," Turtle said, "I don't want any risk of you finding out who I am." He then turned back to Queen Bee, "and I don't want any chance of you ruining it."

"You really think I'd go out of my way to ruin your date," Queen said, faking a shocked expression, "I am hurt. I mean I would totally ruin your date just cause it's funny, but I'm hurt that you would think that."

"Can't you two just get along," Volpina said as she stepped between the two, "you are always at each others throats. Why?"

"He's cocky, arrogant, annoying, and won't even call any of us by name," Queen Bee.

"She's so pretentious that she literally has queen in her name," Turtle said.

"Good for you," Queen said, "you actually used a three syllable word correctly."

"You know I'm surprised," Turtle said, "I mean who would've thought you knew what a syllable was."

"I give up," Volpina said as she walked away, "just don't kill each other."

"Well I better get going," Turtle said, "I got things to do tomorrow and I should get back home to prepare."

"Have fun with the unlucky girl," Queen said as Turtle prepared to leave.

"I will," Turtle said, "be sure to apologize to the unlucky guy for the disappointing date." At that, Turtle jumped off the roof and ran back to his house. He waited until he made sure that the coast was clear before slipping back in through his window.

"Wayzz, Shell Down!"

In a flash of green, Sam changed back into his street clothes. "You really should try to get along with your teammates," Wayzz said as Sam walked over to check on Quartz.

"We get along fine," Sam said, petting the small cat, "well we don't get along, but we haven't beat each other senseless."

"Not yet," Wayzz said, "I give it another day."

"Funny," Sam said, "and here I was thinking you didn't have a sense of humor."

"I wasn't joking," Wayzz said.

"Either way," Sam said as he pulled a bottle of tea from his fridge and a bag of chips from his pantry, "we should probably eat and get some sleep, I got a date tomorrow."

"Very well," Wayzz said as he took a couple of chips from the bag, "would you like some advice."

"What would a kwami know about dating," Sam said as he opened his tea and sat down on the couch.

"I've been around for thousands of years," Wayzz said, "I do know a great deal about the mysteries of females."

"I don't have time for a four hour explanation on women Wayzz," Sam said, "I'll be fine. Just gotta stay calm."

"Yes," Wayzz said, "and I'm sure the conversation of I... uh... you."

"Shut it," Sam said slightly frustrated, "we're gonna see a movie so I'm not gonna need to talk to her." Sam then finished his tea and threw his bottle into the waste basket before stretching out on his couch, "good night Wayzz."

"Good night Sam," Wayzz said as he flew over to the lights and turned them off before flying to the matchbox bed Sam had made for him.

Sam manged to be late for school despite getting to sleep early. He couldn't focus in class, all he could think about was making sure everything was perfect. He had spent almost an hour picking out his clothes this morning as well as taking an hour to patrol in order to make sure no crime could ruin his date today, even going on patrol again at lunch.

Finally school ended and Sam met Chloe out front. "uh... hey," Sam forced out.

Chloe let out a small laugh, "deep breath Sam."

Sam took a deep breath in and out and calmed himself down, "ok I'm good. So ready to go?"

"Yes," Chloe said, "are you?"

"Yeah," Sam said, "I'll be fine. Maybe."

"Are you fine enough to walk to the movies," Chloe asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Sam went bright red, "yeah yeah, uh... I'll... I'll be good." Chloe took him by the hand and guided him to the movie theater, Sam was bright red and nervous the whole time she held his hand. Eventually they mad it to the theater and got in line to buy their tickets.

"So what movie did you want to see," Chloe said. Sam was so stunned by Chloe holding by his hand didn't even recognize Chloe had said anything. "Earth to Sam," Chloe said, snapping her fingers in his face.

Sam shook his head and eventually managed ti get his head straight, "uh... yeah yeah I'm here."

"So what movie do you want to see," Chloe reiterated.

"Uh... well I was gonna let you pick," Sam said.

"Alright then," Chloe said, "then how about that new hero movie."

"You mean Unity," Sam asked with confusion, "I didn't think you'd like that kind of stuff."

"Why not," Chloe asked, "I literally went as Ladybug for Halloween. Why would I do that if you didn't like heroes?"

"It was a group costume," Sam said, "I figured Adrien or Marinette asked you to do it."

"Actually the entire group costume thing was my idea," Chloe said.

Sam went bright red again. He was so surprised that Chloe liked heroes, but it made him love her more. "I guess dad did always tell me not to judge a book by its cover," Sam forced out of his throat.

"Next," the ticket salesman said behind him.

Chloe then pulled Sam over to the ticket booth, "two tickets for Unity."

"That will be 21 euros," the salesman said as he printed out the tickets.

Chloe went to reach into her jacket to get her money, but Sam snapped out of his little trance and beat her to the punch. "No no." Sam said as he pulled out his card, "I invited you, I'll pay." Chloe shrugged it off and put her money away.

"Excuse me sir," the salesman said, "but I'm afraid that your card has been declined." He then turned the screen to show what he meant, the word DECLINED flashed in bright red letters across the screen.

"Wait that's not possible," Sam said as he read the screen over and over.

"Listen Sam, I'm okay with paying for this," Chloe said.

"No it's fine," Sam said as he pulled his wallet back out, "dad always told me to keep on hand cash in case of such a situation." He then pulled out a couple of euros and handed them to the man, taking the tickets as he did so.

"You take a lot of your fathers advice don't you," Chloe said as Sam handed her the ticket and they began walking to the snack counter.

"I may not like him much," Sam said, "but he is a smart man."

"What would you like sir," the girl at the snack counter said as the two walked up.

"Unsweetened ice tea," Sam said, "and a pack of gummy bears." He turned to Chloe, "would you like anything."

"Just a cola," Chloe said.

"Alright," Sam said. He handed the woman a couple of euros and she handed him his change and the snacks. "Thank you," Sam said as he handed the cola to Chloe.

Chloe and Sam went past the ticket taker, into the theater, and took their seats. Sam was desperately happy that they were seeing a movie, it meant less talking and less chances to make a fool of himself. He was happy that he could sit and enjoy the movie and also focus on what he was gonna say later.

The movie began rolling with the trailers and ads. Sam was actually excited about this movie, been waiting for it since it was announced. However he stopped focusing on the movie when Chloe put her hand on top of his and thousands of alarms blazed inside his mind. He couldn't focus on the movie at all, he only saw blurs on the screen and heard gibberish. He managed to snap back into consciousness when something went wrong with the movie. The screen faded back to it's silver color and managed to gain his attention back.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a mysterious voice boomed into the theater, "why would you watch these mindless fools, when the world's greatest actor is truly before you?" Suddenly a man in an all white suit with blonde hair and a white butterfly mask jumped from the projection room to the front of the theater. His suit had no design to it, plain white, except his gloves those were black. Sam finally got all of his focus back, and all of it was on the new akuma.

"Chloe run," Sam said.

"Wait what," Chloe said looking at Sam with confusion, "and what are you gonna do."

"Keep the guy with no fashion sense busy while you help people get away," Sam said as he put his hood up. He could feel his confidence returning, something about situations where he was playing hero actually made him more confident.

"You can't do that," Chloe said with worry in her eyes, "he could kill you."

"No he can't," Sam said as he cracked his knuckles, "you've given me something to not die for. I always do better when pretty women are involved." Chloe went bright red at that statement. "Now go," Sam said as he took his earbuds off of his carabiner and put them in his ears. He then jumped onto the back of the seat in front of them and vaulted to the seat in front of that and the one in front of that until he was face to face with the akuma. "So you're the worlds best actor huh," Sam said with his full bravado back, "how come I've never heard of you?"

"How could you have not possibly heard of Screenpain," the white akuma said, "I am hurt by your words."

"You'll be hurting a lot more real soon," Sam said as he rolled out his wrist.

"How dare you not know me," Screenpain said, ignoring Sam's snarky remark, "I will ensure my name is etched in your memory for eternity. Screenpain snapped his fingers creating a large flash, Sam had to cover his eyes. When the flash faded, Screenpain looked completely different. He was now wearing a black leather jacket with a cloth hood draped over his head, blue jeans, brown combat boots, and black glasses without bottoms on the frames. Except for his facial features and golden hair, he looked like a carbon copy of Sam.

"Your power is copying my style," Sam mocked as he punched his fists together, "pretty lame. Now how about I show you why I'm one of a kind."

"After I'm done with you," Screenpain said, mimicking Sam's voice and punching his fists together as well, "I'll be the one and only. I'll go from being worth millions to being priceless."

Sam pressed the small button on his headphones in order to get his music playing, he then began his attack with moving to the beat of his music. He had to give credit to the akuma, not many people could keep up with Sam when he got serious and moved the way he was moving. He had to be a pretty good martial artists to keep up with Sam's fighting style, no one he had ever met could move the way the akuma was. Sam eventually realized that the akuma wasn't just keeping up with him, he was mirroring him entirely. High kick was met with high kick, right straight met with right straight, and knee was met with knee. Sam even tried some of the moves he had created himself, only for the akuma to block with the same moves. Sam ripped his ear buds out of his ears, "how are you mimicking the moves I made on my own?"

"What are you talking about," Screenpain said, "these are my moves. How did you learn them?"

"Stop copying my moves faker," Sam shouted at the akuma, "or I'll make you stop."

"Please," Screenpain said, "you couldn't beat me if I had both hands and a leg behind my back."

"Talk about double trouble," a new voice said. Both of the Sams turned to see Queen Bee standing on the seats.

"Great," Sam said, "five different heroes and they send Goldilocks."

"Better me than no one," Queen said as she pulled out her trompo.

"Yeah," Screenpain said, "but they could've at least sent the Cat."

"Um," Queen said as she switched her gaze between the two, "which one do I hit?" Both wore their hoods so she couldn't see their faces or any other features that set them apart in order to tell which was which.

"Him," the two Sams said simultaneously, pointing at the other.

"Wait," Queen Bee said as she thought for a second, "what did we call you on your little vigilante spree."

"Blackbird," Sam answered quickly.

"Good," Queen Bee said, she then threw her trompo around the fake Sam and threw him across the room. Once he hit the wall, he switched back to his white suit.

"Nice one Blondie," Sam said with a fist pump, he then got picked up by the golden hero and got carried outside to safety.

"I thought we told you to stop playing hero," Queen Bee said as she set Sam down.

"What can I say," Sam said as he took off his hood and messed with his hair until it rested back the way he normally had it, "I'm always reckless on Tuesdays, and when pretty women are involved."

Queen Bee blushed, "so you think I'm pretty?"

"Actually it's Tuesday," Sam said.

Queen Bee would've slapped him, but then remembered he didn't know her identity. She was a different person to him. "Funny," she said instead, "but you can't keep risking yourself like that."

"I know," Sam said, "but earlier there actually was a pretty girl involved and I needed to protect her." Sam then paused for a minute and stared at the ground, "do you know if Chloe Bourgeois got to safety? I know it seems random to ask, but it's really important that I know."

Queen Bee went red again, "she... she's safe, don't worry."

Sam let out a sigh of relief, he was looking at the ground and didn't see her face go red, "thanks, I appreciate it."

"Excuse me," a loud voice boomed again, Sam and Queen Bee looked to see the white akuma standing on top of the theater, "I am not done with you."

"Believe me," Queen said as she spin her trompo, "I'm not done with you either."

Screepain snapped his fingers again, and in a bright flash his outfit changed again. This time he was wearing a yellow suit with black stripes, the same as what Queen Bee was wearing.

"You better run," Queen said, "this may get ugly."

"Right," Sam said before he ran off. He ran until he found an empty nearby alley, where he opened his jacket pocket to let the small green kwami fly out.

"What you did was reckless," Wayzz started, "it was stupid, it was..."

"I'm about to run back into that fight and you're trying to convince me fighting the bad guy was bad," Sam said as he rolled up his jacket sleeve revealing his bracelet.

"Fighting him without your powers was bad," Wayzz said as he circled around Sam.

"Well then lets use my powers then," Sam said with a smirk.

"Wayzz, Shell Up!"

In a green flash, the Jade Turtle suit appeared on Sam as it always did. "Now let's go help Buzz Brain," Turtle said before heading back towards the fight. He watched as the two golden figures fought. The two were mirroring each others moves, even those involving their weapons. Turtle watched for a good minute, trying to tell the two apart, but they were moving too fast for him to tell which one was the real Bee. "Test your luck," Turtle mumbled to himself, he then threw his shield at full force between the two, ricocheted it off the wall and hit one of the Bees, making the one he hit switch back to the white suit that Screenpain normally wore.

"How'd you know which one was me," Queen said.

"I didn't," Turtle said with a smile.

"You threw your shield without knowing which one was me," She said with immense anger, "you could've restructured my face."

"Would've been an improvement," Turtle said as he flipped down onto the floor beside Bee, she slapped his arm in response.

"You two are very annoying," Screenpain said as he stood up. He snapped his fingers and changed his suit to look like Jade Turtle's.

"Gotta admit," Turtle said as he tossed his shield against the ground and caught it repeatedly, "you don't look bad in green."

"Are you kidding," Screenpain said as he tossed his own shield up and down, "I look good in any color."

"Where'd you get a replica of my shield," Turtle said as his eyes followed Screenpain's shield.

"Props department," Screenpain responded, mimicking Turtle's cocky nature.

"Oh no," Queen said, "there's two of them."

"Twice the fun," both of the Turtles said simultaneously, then charged at each other and bashed their shield's together.

"You know," Turtle said as he began a furious assault, "I was having a nice day, was going on a nice date, and you ruined all of it."

Suddenly the akumas eyes went wide and he jumped away, only for Turtle to get slammed by Cat Noir's staff.

"Ow," Turtle said as he pushed Cat Noir away, "nice of you to show up, but you hit the wrong Turtle."

"Sorry," Cat said as he helped Turtle up, "I didn't think he would dodge. How did he see that attack coming?"

Turtle quickly realized something, "because he used my power."

"What," Queen said, "how?"

"He's not just copying how we look," Turtle said, "he's copying our skills, our weapons, and more importantly our powers. That's how he knew you were going to attack, Cat."

"Very good," Screenpain said as he clapped his hands, "what can I say, I am the world's greatest actor. I truly take on my role."

"That's how he parried all our attacks," Turtle said, "but there is a problem with his cheep cosplay." Turtle held up his hands so everyone can see, "my gloves are green."

Everyone quickly realized what he meant, the fake Turtle was wearing black gloves. "That's where his akuma is," Cat said.

"Clever one aren't you green boy," Screenpain said, "but you still need to catch me to get them." He snapped his fingers again, changing him into a replica of Cat Noir.

"Sorry to say goodbye," Screenpain said, "but I gotta bounce." The akuma proceeded to jump to the rooftops above.

"Come on," Cat said as he watched the akuma jump, "that wasn't even a good pun."

"Why don't you tell him when we catch him," Turtle said as he kicked up to the rooftop and gave chase. The others quickly followed behind and ran after the akuma. He jumped across buildings with ease and occasionally used his staff in order to vault to other buildings. He kept running until he got to a populated area and stopped.

"What's the matter," Cat Noir said, "run out of breath."

"No," Screenpain said with a smile, "just keeping you busy." He turned to a large billboard and raised his hand, "CATACLYSM!" He scratched the bottom of the billboard, making it fall to the populated street below.

"NO," Turtle shouted as he dived off the roof. He landed on the ground and rolled onto his feet underneath where the billboard was going to land and braced his arms to catch it. The billboard landed in his hands with tremendous force, cracking the ground below him, but he forced himself to keep the billboard up. "EVERYONE MOVE," Turtle yelled to the people cowering underneath the billboard.

Cat Noir and Queen Bee jumped down and helped people out from under the billboard. Once everyone was safe Turtle threw the billboard onto the ground, and collapsed onto the floor. "You okay," Cat said as he poked Jade Turtle.

"Yeah," Turtle forced out in between his heavy breaths, "nothing hurts, except my everything."

"What happened," the familiar voice of Ladybug called. Cat and Bee turned to see her and Volpina jump off the nearby rooftop.

"Bad guy," Turtle forced out, "copied us, ran off, billboards are heavy."

"Ok," Volpina said, "can someone translate."

"A new akuma named Screenpain," Queen answered, "He dropped a billboard on a bunch of people, Shell Head caught it."

"And it was heavy," Turtle said as he lifted his arm and head and pointed up, only to flop back on the ground.

"Hey, you okay," Volpina said as she snapped her fingers in his face. Turtle didn't respond. He had pushed himself too hard and passed out.

"What are we gonna do with him," Cat said, "we can't carry an unconscious hero with us while we fight."

"We can take him to my house," Ladybug said, "it's the closest place I can take him. My parents are gone for the week so I can watch him there until he wakes up. You guys look for the akuma."

"Are you sure," Queen said, "he could've been to the bakery before and that could give away your identity."

"Don't worry," Ladybug said as she picked up the unconscious Turtle, "just find Screenpain. I'll make sure he's okay." Everyone nodded and took to the rooftops in order to find the akuma. Ladybug slung Jade Turtle onto one arm and used the other to pull herself up with her yoyo. She vaulted across the rooftops until she reached the top of the bakery and slipped inside her room through the skylight. She put Turtle on her bed and then walked out of the room.

"Tikki, Spots Off!"

The small red kwami popped out of her earrings and began flying in front of her. "What are you doing Marinette," Tikki said as Marinette grabbed a blanket.

"Taking care of my teammate," Marinette said as she walked back into her room, "I couldn't leave him there, and there was nowhere else to take him."

"But what if he finds out you're Ladybug," Tikki said, "I'm okay with how the others found out on their own but you can't keep risking your identity like this."

"Don't worry Tikki," Marinette said as she put the blanket over the unconscious Turtle, "he won't find out."

Turtle then stirred a little bit and Tikki found quickly hid under the bed. "Where am I," Turtle said as he tried to sit up.

"You're safe," Marinette said, putting her hands on his shoulders to keep him in bed, "I'm a friend of Ladybugs. Apparently you passed out from exhaustion after pushing yourself to save a bunch of people."

Turtle used his strength to force himself up against Marinette's resistance, "and who are..." he stopped mid sentence and his eyes went wide, "Mari... uh... miss... uh... who are you?"

"My name is Marinette," Marinette said as she draped the blanket back over him, "I was asked by Ladybug to take care of you while she took care of the akuma. Don't worry, I won't pry. I'll let your secret identity remain secret."

"Thanks Marinette," Turtle said, trying to force himself to get up, but ended up wincing.

"Hey hey hey," Marinette said as she put her hands back on his shoulders trying to push him back into bed, "I assume getting a billboard dropped on you left more than just some bruises, you're gonna need to rest."

"Can't," Turtle said as he forced himself against Marinette's resistance and his pain, "there's a guy out there who can steal our powers, can't let him use them for anymore destruction."

"But you need to know your limits," Marinette said as she pressed her whole body against him in an attempt to keep him in the bed, it didn't work. Turtle forced himself past her and limped over to the door. "STOP," Marinette shouted as Turtle opened the skylight, he stopped dead in his tracks, "why are you pushing yourself so hard?"

"There's a bad guy out there and I need to stop him," Turtle said, "I can't rest until he's stopped."

"What about your teammates," Marinette said, "they've stopped plenty of akumas be..."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND," Turtle shouted, "I'm not just another hero." He forced his arm behind his back and grabbed his shield and just looked at it, "I'm more than that. When I got these powers, I was told what it meant to have them. It didn't just mean stopping the bad guy, it also meant protecting the people and protecting the other miraculous. I'm the defender of the heroes, and I need to keep them safe. That's why my weapon is a shield, in order to protect them."

Marinette didn't know what to say. She was touched by how he wanted to defend everyone, but she couldn't let him go out in this condition. "I'm sorry," Marinette said, "but I was told not to let you leave."

"You can't stop me," Turtle said as he continued to force his way forward.

"But you have to listen," Marinette said, "you may want to protect your friends, but they want to protect you too. You have to trust in them, they've been doing this longer and know what they're doing. They can handle this one akuma without you, you'd be hurting the others more if you went out injured. All they'd be doing is trying to protect you, you'd be a burden if you left now."

Turtle froze, stood in silence for a minute, and finally collapsed back onto the floor. Marinette helped pick him up and put him back on the bed. "You're so hurt you can't even walk outside," Marinette said as she draped the blanket back over him, "You need to rest."

He let out a defeated sigh. "Fine," Turtle said, laying back in the bed, "but if anyone asks, I was too injured to move and you overpowered me."

"Deal," Marinette said as she shook his hand, "Now rest."

Turtle quickly laid back and fell asleep. Marinette took the opportunity to grab Tikki from under the bed and slip out of the room while he slept. "You did good Marinette," Tikki said, "Now we need to help the others."

"Right," Marinette nodded in response.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

Ladybug slipped out of the back window, she didn't want to risk waking Jade Turtle up, and then jumped up to the rooftops in an attempt to catch up with the others. She opened her yoyo into comms mode and made a call to Cat Noir.

"Hey there Bugaboo," Cat Noir answered with his signature snarky smile, "how's the rookie doing?"

"He'll live," she said, "was too injured to move and I managed to force him to sleep. Certainly put up a fight to get out the door. Where are you guys?"

"Near the Eiffel tower," Cat said, Queen Bee flew across the screen in the background, "you might want to hurry."

"On my way," Ladybug said, she closed her comms and threw her yoyo to a pole on top of a nearby building and began making her way to the tower. When she got there, the scene wasn't good. Screenpain was still in a Cat Noir suit. The others were having trouble getting close in order to hurt him, he dodged all their attacks and would extend his staff to hit from a distance. Ladybug jumped down and landed near Cat Noir, "where is the akuma?"

"In his gloves," Cat said rubbing his hands together, "but we can't get our paws on his paws."

"Okay I'll give you credit," Volpina said as she dodged a strike from the staff, "that one was kinda clever."

"Can we focus," Queen Bee said, "this guy hits hard and I personally want to get him back for it."

"We need to think of how to stop him," Ladybug said as she spun her yoyo along her side like she tended to do, the mindless motion helped her think.

Suddenly the akuma noticed Ladybug and let out a crooked smile, "my lady so glad you could join us."

"Who said I'm your lady," Ladybug said as she continued her motion.

"It's his power," Cat Noir said prepping his own staff, "he acts like someone, changing who it is when he snaps his fingers. Right now he's my im-paw-ster."

"The bad puns are back," Volpina added.

"Focus," Queen Bee reiterated.

"Thank you for the description copycat," Screenpain said, "but I think a demonstration is better." He then snapped his fingers and once again the outfit changed to one similar to Ladybug's.

"Now let's stop this akuma," Screenpain said mimicking Ladybug's voice.

"I don't sound like that," Ladybug said, "Do I?"

No one answered, Cat even whistled to play innocent. "Thanks guys," Ladybug said angrily, "really feel the love." The akuma threw his yoyo around Cat Noir and threw him against the Eiffel tower.

"Ok we need to stop him," Ladybug said, she proceeded to throw her yoyo in the air, "LUCKY CHARM!"

The akuma mimicked her motion, "LUCKY CHARM!"

Each of them received an item, Ladybug got a box of strong elastic bands, Screenpain got a battle ax. "One person receives a household item," Queen Bee said, "the other a deadly weapon. This brings back memories."

"Reminisce later," Ladybug said as she scanned the area, "focus on now." She scanned the area until she knew what she needed to do. "Volpina..."

"Let me guess," Volpina interrupted, "distract him?"

"What you're good at," Ladybug said as she ran toward the Eiffel tower.

"Can't argue with that," Volpina said before putting her flute into the ground, "ILLUSION!" Volpina made a horde of all the heroes appear around Screenpain and run around him in circles, Screenpain swinging his ax in an attempt to hit all of them.

Ladybug ran over to where Cat was, "Cat I'm gonna need your help."

"What do you need my lady," Cat said as he sprung to his feet.

She threw the box of elastic bands at him, "start helping me tie these end to end."

Volpina kept her Illusion going as long as she could in order to keep Screenpain away from Ladybug and Cat Noir as they carried out their plan. Cat and Ladybug tied as fast as they could until they had them all tied and created a long elastic rope. They tied each end of the elastic rope they made to the legs of the Eiffel tower to create a giant slingshot.

"Ready to be human cannonball," Ladybug said as she turned toward Cat.

"No," Cat Noir said as he jumped into their slingshot, "but that hasn't stopped you before."

"Alright then," Ladybug said as she pulled the slingshot back, "Hey Bee can you help with this."

Queen Bee jumped to where her allies were and helped Ladybug pull the slingshot. They took a second to aim at the akuma, then let the slingshot fly. Cat Noir went flying through the air and crashed into the akuma, knocking the ax out of his hands. Ladybug then fired Queen Bee out of their slingshot at the akuma, She rammed into him full force knocking him to the ground and changing him back to his white suit. She quickly put her hand on his chest and shouted, "HONEY BEE!" making a wave of honey appear across his chest, sticking him to the ground. Ladybug proceeded to walk over to Screenpain, who was struggling to get out of his binds, and took the gloves off his hands and ripped them in half, releasing the akuma.

"No more evil doing for you little akuma," Ladybug said as she opened her yoyo. She swung it at the akuma shouting, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" Ladybug caught the small black butterfly inside her yoyo and brought it back to her hand. She opened the yoyo to release the purified white butterfly, "bye bye little butterfly." She proceeded to throw her Lucky Charm into the air while shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" Making a wave of red and black burst over Paris and fix all of their damage.

"Where am I," a young man with blonde said as he stood up.

"Pound it," the four heroes said as they put their fists together.

As always, the miraculous of those who've used their power beeped signaling that it was time to go. "I'll catch up with you guys later," Ladybug said, "I gotta go check on my patient."

"Don't suppose I can come for visiting hours," Cat Noir said with a smile.

"Alright," Ladybug said, "but we need to move before I change back."

"Got it," Cat Noir said. The two quickly went to the rooftops and ran back to the bakery. Once they got their they slipped back in through the living room window so that they could avoid waking up Turtle.

"Plagg, Claws In!"

"Tikki, Spots Off!"

The two kwamis popped out of the miraculous and flew into their normal hiding spots as Marinette and Adrien climbed the ladder into her room. They walked over to the bed to check on their friend, only to find that he had left. "Where'd he go," Marinette said as she searched the bed. When she lifted up the blanket, two pieces of paper fell out.

Adrien picked them up, "It's a thank you note to you."

He handed the paper to Marinette and she started reading it out loud:

 _Dear Marinette,_

 _Thank you for taking care of me while I was injured, but while you were gone it seems that Ladybug beat the akuma since all my wound **Miraculously** healed. Anyway, I do appreciate all that you did for me and for making me rely on my teammates more. I left you a small gift as thanks for everything, something to show to all your friends. Now I got to go deal with some personal matters, see you next time I hurt myself doing something stupid._

 _Signed, Jade Turtle_

Marinette looked at the the paper for a second, "What gift?"

"It might be that second piece of paper," Adrien said pointing at the papers.

"I wonder what he gave me," Marinette said with excitement, she quickly lost her smile though.

Adrien looked at her in confusion, "What is it?" Marinette turned the paper so that Adrien could see, it was a signed picture of Turtle. Adrien burst out laughing as looked at the autographed picture. "He... He gave you an autograph," Adrien said with tears in his eyes, "that's great."

"Wait a minute," Marinette said as she looked at the picture, "did he take this in my room?"

Adrien looked again to see the familiar pink walls in the background of the photo, "he took a photo in your room, printed it out, and signed it. That's great."

"Why is this so funny," Marinette said as she gave Adrien a stink eye.

"You don't see the irony in a superhero unknowingly giving another superhero their autograph," Adrien said between his laughter, "because I do."

Marinette just shook her head, "whatever. I wonder what he had to do."

Queen Bee slipped back into her penthouse through the door on the balcony.

"Pollen, Stingers In!"

Chloe walked over to her couch and sat down, turning on the TV to see the news report on their fight. As soon as she found the news report, a knock came from her door. Chloe got up slowly and walked over to the door and opened it to see the familiar black jacket and brown hair with purple bangs.

"Hey," Sam said as he rubbed his neck, "so I guess our date got ruined."

"I guess it did," Chloe said with a slight laugh.

"Yeah," Sam said, "but I figured the least we can do is hang out together." He then reached into his jacket and pulled out a small container, "I heard from the grapevine that you like sushi."

"The grapevine is right," Chloe said as she took the small container with a smile, "and I know from the grapevine that you like tea a lot, and I can have the best in Paris here in minutes."

Sam let out a slight laugh, "you don't have to do that."

"It's the least I could do for the guy who went out of his way to protect me," Chloe said, she then wrapped her arms around Sam and hugged him tight, "I heard how even after I left you were still worrying about me. Thank you."

Sam went bright red, "Well... uh... yeah... uh... least... I do."

Chloe laughed at Sam stumbling over his words again, "there's the Sam I know. Now about that tea."

"Yeah," Sam said, "let's... tea."

Chloe laughed and pulled him down sat him down on the couch and put on a movie and the two enjoyed the rest of their date together.

 **END**


	8. Lady Destroyer

Lady Destroyer

Marinette looked at the new design. She had been working on a new line based off of her and all the other miraculous holders. She had been working on Jade Turtle and Cat Noir hoodies, Ladybug and Volpina blouses, and a Queen Bee jacket.

Sam had made the strange request when he announced he was working on a new "heroes album" as he put it and wanted a hero look for him and the rest of the band. He asked Marinette because he wanted the "best fashion designer in Paris". Needless to say, flattery got him everywhere. While she didn't have a deadline, she couldn't help but put forth all the time she had into the designs.

"They look amazing Marinette," Tikki said as she fluttered around Marinette's head.

"Thanks Tikki," Marinette said with a smile, "but it did help that everyone transformed and modeled so I could get a better idea for the designs."

Tikki giggled, "but transforming and looking in a mirror wasn't an easy task."

Marinette laughed, "I think I may stop making superhero designs after this. These designs and the Halloween costumes have been hard on me and everyone else."

Tikki giggled again, but stopped when she looked at the time. "Not to mention time consuming," she said, "you need to hurry or else you'll be late."

"Oh come on Tikki," Marinette said, "I don't have to be at school for another..." Marinette looked at the time on a little black cat clock Adrien had gotten her, "ten minutes ago... yeah that's to be expected."

Marinette quickly grabbed her stuff and put it into her bag, Tikki flew into her satchel. Once she had all her stuff together, Marinette took off out the bakery door, saying a quick goodbye to her mom and dad, and ran off to school.

Marinette was lucky she lived close to the school, otherwise she might actually be later. However, she was stopped by something else.

As she ran up to the school, she saw three people in front of the school. One was a large girl with golden hair that had her hair tied back in a pony tail wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt, the second was a large boy with short black hair wearing a red and blue shirt with black pants. The third was a girl with chestnut brown hair and tan skin wearing a blue shirt and black jean shorts, she however was on the floor with the other two standing above her.

"Come on," blonde hair girl said, just give us your lunch money and we'll leave you alone." The girl on the floor didn't say a word, instead just shaking her head in response."

"C'mon Em," the boy said, "this could all be relatively painless if you just give us the money." Once again, she shook her head.

"Fine," the blonde girl said, "we'll do this the hard way." She punched her palm and started stepping forward.

"HEY," Marinette yelled at the two who were standing, "leave her alone."

The large girl slowly looked at Marinette, letting out a small laugh. "Oh yeah," she said, "and what are you going to do about it princess?"

Marinette didn't bother with a verbal response, mostly because she couldn't think of anything, instead simply giving a stern stare.

"So girly can't even come up with a good threat," the boy said, "that's a bit sad. Why don't you just go away and pretend you never saw anything?"

"No," Marinette said, "the only way for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing, so that's why I'm going to do something about you two."

The boy let out a sigh, "fine, but just remember, I gave you the option to leave."

He threw a punch at Marinette. She didn't flinch, all her encounters with akumas had made it easy not to flinch, which allowed her to see the person who caught the punch, wearing his familiar black jacket and dirty brown hair with purple bangs.

"You know," Sam said, "it's very rude to hit a lady." He twisted the boys arm then shoved his palm hard against his opponents chest, causing the boy to fall to the floor.

"Impeccable timing," Marinette said.

"If there's two things you can expect me to do," Sam said, "it's be late for class and help people in need. So, what's the situation Strings."

"These two were trying to take this girls lunch money," Marinette said.

Sam laughed, "really? You're kidding, right?" Marinette shook her head. "Wow," Sam said, "well aren't you two the literal embodiment of cliche bullies. What's next? Were you going to give wedgies and swirlies?"

The boy stood up and charged at Sam. Sam lazily side stepped out of the way and kicked the boys feet out from under him, making him fall to the floor again.

"Seriously," Sam said, "that was just sad."

"Listen pretty boy," the girl said as she stepped up to Sam, "we were just trying to get the money Emilia here owes us, Right Em?"

The girl on the floor, Emilia, shook her head. "So," Marinette said, "that means this was more of a stick up instead of a debt collection."

"Which is technically a misdemeanor," Sam said, "maybe even a felony depending on how much you were trying to take. So how about you walk away before we decide to get the nice officers involved."

The girl growled as she and Sam stared each other down. "Come on Blake," she finally said, "we better get going."

"Smart choice," Sam said, "bye now." The girl and the boy, Blake if Marinette heard correctly, both walked away, Sam jokingly waved as the two walked away.

Marinette walked over to the girl on the floor and helped her up. "Are you okay," Marinette asked. The girl nodded her head yes. "Your name is Emilia right," Marinette continued, the girl nodded yes again.

"Hey," Sam said, "it's okay to talk to us. We're the ones who saved you from the bullies, remember?"

Emilia nodded again, "t-thank you."

"There we go," Sam said, "and it was no problem."

"How about you tell us about yourself and who those two were." Marinette said.

"E-Emilia Holcomb," She said, "I'm a s-student here."

"Holcomb," Sam said, "why does that sound familiar." Sam thought for a second. "Aw whatever," Sam finally said, "anyway I'm..."

"Sam Firgate," Emilia interrupted, "lead singer and guitarist for the rainmakers alongside Justin Torres, Sky Foster, Alex Graham, and Liam Cole." She then turned towards Marinette, "and you're Marinette Dupain-Cheng a designer who designed the cover for my favorite Jagged Stone album as well as the bowler hat that Adrien Agreste modeled a little while back."

"That's not creepy," Sam said, "not at all."

"Oh, no," Emilia said, "I-I just really like rock music and fashion. All of my family is big on music and dance and fashion and..."

"I think we get it," Marinette said, "what about those guys?"

Emilia went silent for a little bit, grabbing a small silver bracelet on her wrist. "E-Emily and Blake West," Emilia finally said, "they've been picking on me since school started."

"Well," Sam said, "don't they sound like role models of the century."

Emilia let out a small laugh, "p-pure sunshine children."

Marinette and Sam laughed, until a small beeping interrupted. Sam rolled up his sleeve to reveal a small black watch. "Huh," Sam said, "it appears that we're extra late for class."

Marinette pulled her phone out and checked the time. Class had started almost twenty minutes ago. "Oh no," Marinette said, "no we're really gonna get it."

"Oh," Emilia said, gripping her bracelet again, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to."

"Hey," Sam said, "it's not your fault. Blame the bullies and the fact that we're so obsessed with super heroes that we can't help but try to be them." Emilia laughed again. "Anyway," Sam said, "I'll catch up with you later, play bodyguard so that you're safe from those jerks."

"R-really," Emilia said.

"Yeah," Sam said, "what can I say, I can't ignore a person in need."

Emilia smiled, "t-thank you."

"No problem," Sam said. Emilia waved goodbye and ran into the school.

"Can we get to class now," Marinette said as she looked at the time, "you've already made us later than we should be."

"I blame the bullies," Sam said as the two began walking into the school, "all their fault, can't blame me."

"I really can't to be honest," Marinette said. She then reached into her bag and pulled out her sketchbook, handing it to Sam. "But I can blame you for making me late," Marinette said, "I got so caught up in working on the designs you asked for that I lost track of time."

"Still not my fault," Sam said, looking at the sketches as they walked up the stairs, "but I gotta admit Strings, these designs are pretty cool. Although do you think you could make this Ladybug blouse a vest, I bet I could get Liam to wear that. Make the Cat Noir hoodie a zip up and I'll take it. Justin will take the Jade Turtle hoodie, Sky will take the Bee jacket, and Alex will take the Volpina blouse."

"Alright," Marinette said as she took the sketchbook back, "I'll be sure to be late for school tomorrow and get those to you."

"Thanks Strings," Sam said with a grin, "glad we agree."

The two walked into class quietly, hoping not to get seen as they walked in.

"Mr. Firgate, Ms. Dupain-Cheng," Ms. Bustier said without turning away from the board, "I'm glad you could join us."

"I'm sorry Ms," Marinette said.

"What can I say," Sam said, his normal cocky grin spread across his face, "I have a bad habit of being fashionably late."

"You also have a bad habit of being smart mouthed when you shouldn't be," Ms. Bustier said as she turned to face Sam, "now please take your seats."

"Yes ma'am," Sam said, doing a joking salute as he did so. Sam walked over to his seat in the front, leaning back in his seat as he always did, and Marinette walked back over to her seat next to Alya.

"Hey," Marinette said as she sat down.

Alya didn't respond, instead scribbling away on a small paper in front of her. Marinette leaned over Alya's shoulder to read what she was writing, it looked like a list of some sort.

"What is this," Marinette said, tapping the paper. Alya still didn't answer, too focused on what she was working on. Marinette was pretty sure that Alya didn't even know she was here. Marinette thought for a second before coming up with how to get her friends attention. Marinette leaned over and quietly whispered in her friends ear, "akuma attack."

Alya popped up, "what? Where?" She looked around looking for the akuma. Marinette let out a small laugh. Alya gave her a harsh stare, "not cool girl. I was about to jump out the door"

"Well that's what happens when you ignore me," Marinette said. She slipped the paper away from Alya, "so what is this?"

"I was trying to come up with a better codename," Alya said.

"What's wrong with Volpina," Marinette said as she read the list.

"I was a little tired of having Lila's old name," Alya said, "so I wanted to come up with my own."

Marinette thought for a minute, "alright." She then pointed out one of the names, "how about this one?"

"Red fox," Alya said, "I'm not really sure about that one."

"Okay," Marinette said, "how about this one?"

"Renarde," Alya said, "it's just another way of saying fox."

"Well maybe you need to think more on it," Marinette said, "try asking the others next patrol."

"Alright," Alya said.

They were interrupted by a book being slammed on their desk. "Ms. Césaire and Ms. Dupain-Cheng," Ms. Bustier said as she picked her book back up, "you must already be experts on the works of Jules Verne, seeing as you don't need to pay attention, so how about you give an oral report tomorrow."

"Sorry ma'am," Alya and Marinette said in unison. Both of them lowered their heads, upset. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette could see Sam laughing up a storm.

 **o0o**

After class, everyone went out to go have lunch on the front steps of the school, waving Adrien goodbye as he got into the limo and went back to his house for lunch as he always did.

Marinette, Alya, and Chloe all pulled out their lunches, Sam simply went over to the wall that was on the side of the stairs and laid down on top of it.

"No lunch again," Chloe asked as Sam looked up at the sky.

"Nope," Sam said, "still trying to budget myself while I make a new album."

"You ever figure out what happened with your card," Alya asked.

"No," Sam said, "my old man said that he'd talk about it when he comes for the holidays, but at least I know that Eric didn't shut down my bank account again."

"Again," Marinette said, confusion in her tone.

"He's hacked into our dad's bank account and shut off my card before," Sam said, "suprisingly, I'm not the problem child."

"That is surprising," Someone else said. Sam sat up to see Emilia standing at the foot of the stairs, holding a small bag from a nearby café. "You would think the literal punk rocker would be more troublesome," Emilia continued.

"Hey," Sam said, hopping off the stone wall, "nice to see you again Emilia." He hugged her with one arm as he gestured to her with his free hand, "everyone, this is Emilia. Me and Strings helped her out this morning."

"She was getting bullied by some brutes," Marinette said, "So we decided to help."

"Sounds like you two," Alya said, "nice to meet you, I'm..."

"Alya Césaire," Emilia finished for her, "you run the Ladyblog, right?" She then turned to Chloe, "and you're Chloe Bourgeois, the mayors daughter."

"Uh," Alya mumbled out, "yeah."

"Don't worry," Sam said, "she does that from time to time, something about her family."

"Actually, I just like the Ladyblog," Emilia said, "and everyone knows the akuma maker."

"Akuma maker," Chloe said, dissapointment in her tone. She then looked at the ground, upset.

"No," Emilia said, "I didn't mean... well... I did, but..."

"It's fine," Chloe said, looking up and forcing a smile, "it is true."

"Let's try to move off that topic," Sam said, trying to bring a cheery tone back to the group, "seems like an awkward one. Let's forget the past and live in the present."

"Speaking of the present," Emilia said, reaching into her café bag. She pulled out half a sandwich and handed it to Sam, "I overheard that you don't have a lunch at the present moment."

"You don't have to do that," Sam said. As if on cue, his stomach growled so that everyone else can hear. Sam went silent for a moment with a blank stare. "But it is really appreciated," Sam said as he took the sandwich, "really, very appreciated."

Everyone laughed as Sam hopped back up to his spot and started eating. "Is he always like this," Emilia asked, pointing at Sam.

"He never stops," Marinette said.

Sam swallowed the note he just took, "why would I? I'm amazing. There are literally no flaws in my personality."

"Except for your ego," Alya said.

"And your rebellious nature," Marinette added.

"Don't forget his inability to keep track time," Alya continued.

"Plus his weird tea addiction," Marinette said.

"Inability to focus."

"Tendency to look for trouble."

"Need to show off."

"A habit of disappearing randomly."

"Okay," Sam interrupted, "I'm not perfect."

"From the sound of it," Emilia added, "your not even close to it."

"You're not helping," Sam said, pointing an accusing finger at Emilia.

"Wasn't trying to," Emilia said with a smile.

Marinette laughed as Sam went back to laying back and eating his sandwich. As she stopped laughing, her phone began to buzz. She pulled it out to see a text from Adrien.

Adrien 12:37 PM: _Akuma attack. Reports just hit the news. Happening near Trocadéro. Meet you there my lady._

Marinette turned the phone towards Alya so she could see what it said. "Well we better go girl," Alya said, "if there's and akuma, then we need to go to it." Marinette gestured to the people who didn't know about their identities, wanting her to come up with an explanation for her outburst. Luckily, Alya already had one. "They'll be fine without us," Alya said, "I really need this akuma story for the Ladyblog." Alya picked up her bag, "wanna come with Chloe?"

"Why not," Chloe said, standing up and grabbing her stuff, "Ladybug might show, wouldn't want to miss that."

"An akuma," Sam said, "where?"

"Trocadéro," Alya said, "I assume you're going to try see it."

"Probably," Sam said, "I...uh... do need some research for my new album." Sam then looked at Emilia, who had lowered her head and started gripping her bracelet again. "You guys go ahead," Sam said, "I'll catch up later."

The other three nodded and all ran off. Sam turned back towards Emilia, "I'm guessing you don't want to go."

Emilia shook her head in response. Sam lowered his head in thought. He had to go, the others might need his help, but he couldn't just leave her, especially if Emily and Blake came back.

"Go," Emilia said, breaking the long silence.

"What about you," Sam asked.

"I-I'll be fine," Emilia said, "I can avoid those jerks for a couple of hours, or at least until you get back."

Sam hummed in thought, "alright, I'll be back before you know it." Sam waved goodbye as he ran off in the direction of Trocadéro.

Once Sam had left, Emilia sat down on the steps and pulled out the rest of her sandwich. As she pulled it out, it got kicked out of her hand by a familiar golden haired girl.

"Well," Emily said as she looked down, "looks like poor little Em is all alone."

"Did your little bodyguard realize you sucked and decided to leave," Blake said as he started to pace around Emilia. Emilia went silent and grabbed her bracelet.

"Silent treatment as always," Emily said, "I'm not surprised." Emilia continued to go silent. "You're pathetic you know," Emily continued, "you can't even speak up."

"SHUT UP," Emilia said, pushing Emily away, "just leave me alone."

"Wow," Emily said, "you actually can speak. I'm surprised."

"Why do you always pick on me," Emilia said, "why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because you're too easy," Blake said, "you are such a loner and you never talk to anyone, not even about what we do to you."

"Not to mention you're pathetic," Emily said, "you can't even stand up for yourself."

"W-well I'm standing up now," Emilia said, "m-my friends can stand up to you, t-then so can I. I'm no different from them."

"Aw," Emily said, "now that's cute, you think you have friends. Face it, you're just a charity case."

"No I'm not," Emilia said, griping her bracelet tighter, "I'm a friend."

Emily pushed her, causing her to fall onto the floor. "Stop lying to yourself," Emily said, looking down on her, "you're just an ignorant kid."

"Shut up," Emilia said, trying to push herself up.

Blake grabbed her arm and pulled off the bracelet. "Since you didn't share your cash," Blake said as he spun the bracelet on his finger, "then I guess we'll just take this."

"GIVE IT BACK," Emilia shouted, springing onto her feet, "THAT'S MINE!"

"Seems we touched a nerve," Blake said, "I didn't think you could get mad."

"GIVE ME BACK MY BRACELET," Emilia shouted.

Blake threw it over Emilia's head and over to Emily. "First she talks," Emily said as she tossed the bracelet up and down, "and now she is snapping at us. She's come really far in one day."

"GIVE IT BACK," Emilia said, reaching for her bracelet as Emily held it over her head. Emily just laughed as Emilia tried to take the bracelet back.

Emily kept the bracelet away, kept it above Emilia's head until she saw an opportunity. "You want it," Emily said, "go get it." Emily threw the bracelet out towards the street. The bracelet landed in front of an oncoming car, getting crushed under the wheel.

"NO," Emilia shouted out. Once the car was gone, she ran out into the street and picked up her bracelet. She held the bracelet in her hands, it had been flattened under the wheel of the car. She almost cried as she looked at the flat bracelet.

"Aw, you gonna cry," Emily said as she walked over to where Emilia was, "this could've been so easy if you had just..."

Emilia spun around and punched Emily in the face. Emily fell to the floor, a large bruise on her head. Emilia looked down on her, a look of shock as she realized what she just did. Once the shock faded away and Emilia had a full grasp of what she did, she did the only thing she could think of. She ran away.

 **o0o**

Shutter of the large window slowly opened, releasing light into the dark room. White butterflies flew into the air as the light flooded in onto the single figure in the room, a man in a purple suit with a silver mask and a butterfly brooch holding a cane.

"Aw the poor tortured soul," Hawk Moth said as he stared out the window, "tormented by those who take advantage of their size and strength. Perhaps I should even the playing field." One of the small butterflies flew into the palm of his hand. He took his other hand and cupped the butterfly in his hands, letting the black energy flow into the insect. He took his hand off of the butterfly to reveal it had changed from white to black with glowing purple spots. He released the small akuma into the air and let it fly. "Go my akuma," Hawk Moth said as he spun his cane in his hand, clicking it onto the ground, "allow this poor girl the revenge she deserves."

The akuma flew out through the small hole in the window, flying over the Paris skyline in search of it's victim. It flew to a small alley where a young girl was crying. She was sitting in the alley, crying over a crushed bracelet that she was wearing on her wrist. The akuma flew down landing on her bracelet, fusing with it. The girl perked up as a voice rang inside her head.

"Hello Lady Destroyer," Hawk Moth said, "I am Hawk Moth, and I am willing to grant you the power to crush those that have done you wrong. However, in return for this power, you must bring me the Miraculous' of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Queen Bee, Volpina, and Jade Turtle." Images of a pair of red earrings with black spots, a black ring with a green cat paw on it, a golden hair comb with a bee design on top, a necklace with a fox tail gem, and string bracelet with a green turtle gem. "Do we have a deal," Hawk Moth said.

"I'll crush them all," Lady Destroyer said. A black smoke emerged from her bracelet, engulfing her body completely.

 **o0o**

"Pound it," all five heroes said as they bumped their fists together.

"Alright," Jade Turtle said, putting his shield on his back and clapping his hands together, "I got to run."

"Why," Queen Bee said, "you didn't use your power, so what's the rush to get out of here?"

"Well," Turtle said, "besides the fact that you revolt me to no end, I have a friend waiting on me."

"You have friends," Queen said with a laugh, "that's the funniest thing I heard all day."

"Will you two stop," Volpina said, "I swear you two are like children when you're near each other."

"Then we'll get away from each other," Turtle said, turning around to leave.

"Wait a second shell head," Volpina said, "I wanted to talk with you for a minute."

Turtle let out a long sigh, "fine, what is it?"

"I wanted to change my code name," Volpina said, "I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions."

Turtle gave her a stare that she could feel through his goggles, "why? No matter what you pick, I'm going to end up calling you something else."

Volpina thought for a second, "fair point. Okay you can leave."

"Glad I got your permission," Turtle said. He turned back around and began running back towards the school. He really hoped that nothing bad had happened to Emilia while he was gone. He had no idea how long he had spent fighting that last akuma, but it sure was enough time for something bad to happen while he was gone. He wanted to hurry back before those bullies could find her. Unfortunately, he was too late.

As he approached the school, he saw other students running out. "Great," Turtle said, "just my luck." He jumped over to the front entrance of the school, pushing past students as they ran out. He caught a glimpse of the new akuma, standing over Emily West. the akuma was punching the palm of her hand repeatedly as she looked at Emily on the ground.

"Not so tough now," the akuma said, "are ya?" The akuma prepped to punch Emily, but Turtle jumped between them just in time and blocked the attack with his shield.

As he held off the fist, struggling against the strength of the new akuma, and got a good look at who the new akuma was. "Emilia," Turtle said with confusion in his tone.

"Not anymore," she said, "it's Lady Destroyer now." She loosened up and jumped back to get some distance between herself and Turtle.

Turtle finally got a good look at the new akuma. Her skin had turned pink with long purple hair tied back into a ponytail with a pink bow. She was wearing a black body suit with a pink v shape going from her shoulders down to her belt wearing pink boots and purple gloves, with a pink bracelet on her wrist.

"Listen here hero," Lady Destroyer said, pointing at Turtle, "that girl sure ain't worth defending, so let me beat her down and I'll leave you alone."

"One," Turtle said, "that's a straight up lie, I know you want my miraculous just like all the other akumas."

"Guilty," Lady Destroyer said with a light chuckle.

"And two," Turtle continued, "I can't let you go around hurting innocent people."

Destroyer let out a laugh, "her? Innocent? Not even in your dreams. She's the worst kind of person, only picking on those weaker than her."

"Pot," Turtle said, "meet kettle."

She laughed again, "maybe so, but she deserves it."

"No one deserves this," Turtle said, "so stop. NOW!"

Destroyer slowly shook her head, "we're on the same side Jade. We both want justice, so get out of my way."

"I can't do that," Turtle said, "especially considering there's a difference between justice and vengeance, and I think you want the latter."

"Stop protecting her," Destroyer said, pointing an accusing finger at Emily, "or I'll have to assume you're with her."

"I'm not with her," Turtle said, stepping forward, "but I'm not with you either."

"Well in that case," Destroyer said, getting up in Turtle's face. She punched him hard in the chest, sending him soaring across the courtyard and into a wall, cracking it on impact.

"Should've seen that coming," Turtle said, slowly picking himself up.

Emily took the opportunity to get up and run away from the akuma. Lady Destroyer turned to give chase, but got hit by Turtle's shield and stumbled back.

"you're not going anywhere," Turtle said as he caught his shield, "right now, you're dealing with me."

Destroyer growled, "I don't have time for you." She held out her palm in front of her, letting a ball of pink energy form in her hand. She turned towards where people were running out of the building and threw the ball at one of the last peole escaping.

"NO," Turtle shouted as the ball hit the civilian in the back. He ran over to the civilian to make sure that he was okay. As he bent over to check on the civilian, the civilian spun around and smacked Turtle in the chest, sending him flying into the air. Turtle hit the top of the entry way to the school then went crashing back down into the floor.

Turtle groaned out in pain, as he pushed himself onto his hands and knees. "That however," Turtle groaned, "I could not have seen coming."

"Keep him busy," Destroyer said to the civilian as she walked past him and Turtle, "I'll be back later to finish him, right now I have more important things to deal with." The civilian growled in response as she walked past.

"I guess that makes me more important," a voice echoed out from above. Lady Destroyer looked up and held up her arms to block the hit from Cat Noir's staff as he dropped down on top of her. "I'm a little touched that you think of me that way," Cat said.

"Nice of you to show up," Turtle said, blocking a punch from the civilian with his shield.

"What are you talking about," Cat said with a smile, "my timing is purr-fect."

"Stupid cat," Destroyer said, "didn't realized you cared about your life so little."

"Why would I," Cat said, "I got eight more."

Destroyer hit Cat's staff away and then slammed her palm against his chest, sending him flying back. Cat landed on his feet, using one hand to dig his claws into the ground and catch himself.

"Keep her busy," Turtle said, trying to push the civilian away, "I'll help once I figure out how to get this guy away from me without hurting him."

As he said it, a yellow and black trompo flew around the civilians waist and pulled him off of Turtle. "What would you do without me," Queen Bee said as she pulled the civilian away and threw him onto one of the rooftops adjacent to the school.

"Besides live a happy life," Turtle said.

"Children," Volpina said as she jumped down next to Turtle and helped him up, "the both of you."

"Focus everyone," Ladybug said as she landed next to Cat, "or did you all forget about the literal power house that's right in front of us."

"Red's right," Turtle said, "we can discuss all the things wrong with her majesty later."

"Won't have much to talk about," Queen said as she landed next to Volpina and Turtle.

"Focus," Ladybug said. The five heroes started to circle around the akuma.

"Alright Young and Menace," Turtle said, "it's five on one. No hope, give up."

"You're right," Destroyer said, "five on one isn't a fair fight..." another ball of energy formed in her hands, "let's even the odds."

Turtle knew what she was planning, "GET DOWN!" All the other heroes dropped while Turtle threw his shield at the akuma. Destroyer jumped out of the way and threw the ball at Turtle, hitting him on the chest.

"JADE," Ladybug shouted out. Turtle stood tall, letting out a low growl as he did. He slowly raised his arm to catch his shield out of the air.

"I still have other matters to deal with," Lady Destroyer said, "keep your friends busy."

Turtle let out a slow nod, then turned to Cat Noir and threw his shield. Cat got hit in the chest then went flying across the street.

"Not good," Volpina said, "she can control others."

"Not to mention he's hitting harder," Cat said, "I think she might have enhanced his strength too."

"At least she picked the one of us that's worth hitting," Queen said, punching the palm of her hand.

"We can't hurt him," Ladybug said, "he's still the same Jade that we know."

"Except for the fact that he wants to destroy us all," Cat said, picking himself up, "other than that, same Turtle we know and love."

"I think you mean loathe," Queen said, "and I'm personally okay with hitting him."

"Well I'm not," Ladybug said, "we just need to stop the akuma and then he'll go back to normal."

"Alright," Cat said. He charged at Lady Destroyer with his staff, but Turtle jumped in the way and blocked the attack with his shield. Turtle hit Cat with his free hand, sending his friend flying.

Volpina jumped at Turtle, who spun around and slammed her with his shield which sent her flying as well.

Queen Bee threw her trompo at Turtle while Ladybug did the same with her yoyo. Turtle wrapped both around his free arm and pulled the heroin's toward himself and hit them hard with his shield.

Destroyer began to walk away as the Miraculous holders all tried to fight their friend. "We can't let her get away," Ladybug said as she reeled her yoyo back in, "she's the key to getting Turtle back to normal."

"Well there in lies the problem my lady," Cat said, "we can't go after her without angering the hero in the half shell."

"Then we split up," Volpina said, "you and me take on Turtle while Bee and Ladybug focusing on purifying the akuma."

"Wait," Cat said, "why am I the one who has to help you keep him busy?"

"Because," Volpina said, "Ladybug is the only one who can purify an akuma and I don't trust Bee to fight Turtle."

"Smart choice really," Queen said.

"So that means you and me get the bumps and bruises," Cat said, "purr-fect."

"Glad we agree," Volpina said. She turned to Ladybug and Queen Bee, "alright, you two get going and we'll take it from here."

"Right," the two said in unison. Ladybug and Queen Bee threw their weapons up and zipped into the air.

Turtle prepped to throw his shield at them, but was forced to block when Cat charged at him. Volpina then jumped over Cat and slammed her flute into Turtle's face, causing him to stumble back.

"you're dealing with us," Volpina said.

"Yeah," Cat said, barring his claws, "so how about we let the fur fly."

 **o0o**

"OH EMILY," Lady Destroyer called out along the city streets. As she walked down the street, she would blast civilians and turned them into her puppets. All of them began their own search as Destroyer went calling through the streets.

"YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER," Destroyer called out, "THE CITY IS ONLY SO BIG AND I GOT HALF OF IT LOOKING FOR YOU!"

"We're afraid your search party is gonna have to be called off," someone called from above. Destroyer looked up to see Ladybug and Queen Bee on a nearby rooftop.

"Ah, look who came to join the party," Destroyer said with a smile, "I see you ditched the hair balls."

"Give it up Emilia," Ladybug said, "you should know what you're doing is wrong."

"One, I'm Lady Destroyer now," She said, "and two, I'm doing the world a favor. People are always oppressed by bullies, all I'm doing is giving them the power to stand up to them in return for them helping me find mine, then she'll get what she deserves."

"Two wrongs don't make a right," Queen Bee said, "all you're doing is becoming the bullies you hate, and you're making others help you against their will."

"SHUT UP," Lady Destroyer yelled out, "DON'T COMPARE ME TO THEM!"

"But you are like them," Ladybug said, "using your greater strength to pick on someone lower than you."

"SHUT UP," Destroyer shouted, "MAYBE YOU JUST NEED TO SEE MY POINT OF VIEW!" Destroyer began to charge an energy ball and threw it at the heroes. Both of them jumped out of the way and landed on the ground and began running around Destroyer.

"Got any ideas LB," Queen said as Destroyer charged another energy ball.

"A couple," Ladybug said back, dodging out of the way as Destroyer threw the energy ball at her, "First we need to find where the akuma is."

"You seem to know who she is," Queen said, "you tell me where to find it."

Ladybug scanned Lady Destroyer, looking for her akuma and her weakness. She then noticed something, Destroyer charged her energy balls one at a time, using only one hand to generate her energy blasts. Ladybug noticed that the energy wasn't stemming from her body, it was stemming from a bracelet on her wrist. That was where her power was, that was where the akuma was.

"The bracelet on her wrist has the akuma," Ladybug called out, "she always gripped it before she was akumatized and the energy she's throwing is being generated by it."

"So we get it off," Queen said, "how?"

"We start with this," Ladybug said. She threw her yoyo into the air and shouted out, "LUCKY CHARM!" A brilliant series of ladybugs appeared from the yoyo and came together to form a magnet.

"Perfect," Queen Bee said as the lucky charm landed in Ladybug's hands, "now figure out how to use it. FAST!"

Ladybug scanned the area as she always did, the world going to black and white as she searched for what she needed. She needed to knock the bracelet off and get it or stop Lady Destroyer in her tracks, she just needed to figure out how she could to that with a boomerang. Through a thorough search, she came up with a plan.

"Keep her busy," Ladybug called out, "I may have a plan."

"You got it,"Queen called back. Queen began to distract Destroyer by jumping and running around her while Ladybug began enacting her plan. She threw her yoyo around light pole and started jumping around the street, from light pole to light pole, wrapping her yoyo around all of them and making a web around Destroyer.

"Slingshot strikes," Ladybug called out to Bee. Bee immediately knew what she meant and jumped onto one of the lines of Ladybug's yoyo web and sprung off, hitting Lady Destroyer as she flew back. She landed on one of the yoyo lines on the opposite side and sprung off again, slamming Destroyer as she went through the air.

Ladybug began doing the same springing between her yoyo strings and striking Destroyer the same way Bee was. The two heroin's continued their assault, timing their attacks so that Destroyer couldn't time their attacks.

Eventually, Ladybug turned her body so that she flew past Destroyer, using the magnet to cling onto her bracelet and take it as she flew by. She slipped under the yoyo web and landed on the other side.

"NO," Destroyer shouted. She began to run to where Ladybug was, but got hit by Bee as she ran.

Ladybug took the bracelet off of the magnet and prepared to snap it, but was tackled by one of the civilians that Destroyer had powered up. The bracelet went flying through the air, getting caught by one of the other civilians.

"Throw it here," Destroyer called to the civilian with the bracelet. As she did so, Queen Bee tried to attack her again, but Destroyer saw her and smacked her into the air.

Bee landed all the way down the street. The civilian with the bracelet threw it to Lady Destroyer, but Bee forced through her pain and caught it out of the air with her trompo. She pulled the bracelet in and snapped it in half, releasing the small butterfly.

Ladybug quickly reeled in her yoyo and opened it, "no more evil doing for you little akuma." She threw her yoyo while yelling out, "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" She caught the small insect inside and reeled her yoyo back in. She opened it up to release the small white butterfly, "bye bye little butterfly." Her lucky charm reappeared in her hand so she could throw it into the air with her famous words, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" The magnet burst into ladybugs which flew all over Paris, fixing any damage caused and restoring all the civilians back to normal.

Queen Bee walked up to Ladybug and held out fist. "Pound it," the two heroin's said as they bumped fist.

Ladybugs earrings began to beep as they celebrated their victory, "can you handle the press? I got to run."

"No problem," Queen said, "I'll catch you later."

"Later," Ladybug said. She threw her yoyo into the air and zipped away.

 **o0o**

Jade Turtle stood over Cat Noir, ready to strike him with his shield. Volpina jumped on his back in an attempt to stop him, but Turtle easily threw her off. He prepped to strike again, but as he did a series of ladybugs flew around him, snapping him out of his trance.

Jade looked around in confusion before his eyes rested on Cat Noir on the ground. "Were we fighting," Jade said, lowering his shield.

"Uh... yeah," Cat Noir said.

"Huh," Jade said, letting out a smile, "was I winning?"

Cat Noir thought for a second before shaking his head, "nope, I was definitely on top of things."

"Shut up Cat," Volpina said as she walked up, "you were beating both of us, but we kept you in check."

"So no one got hurt," Jade said as he helped Cat onto his feet.

"Nope," the other two said in unison.

"Alright," Jade said. He put his shield on his back and began to walk away, but stopped and turned to Volpina. "Rena Rouge," He said, pointing at her.

"What," She said with extreme confusion.

"You said you wanted a new code name," Jade said, "how about Rena Rouge."

She hummed in thought, "that... actually sounds pretty good."

"Thanks," Jade said, "I overheard some friends of mine talking about red foxes or something earlier and when you started asking, I began thinking of what they said and used that to come up with something."

"It's great," she said, "the next akuma better watch out, 'cause Rena Rouge is ready to fight."

"Alright Rouge," Jade said, "now I better run, I got to go check on a friend of mine." And with that, he ran off.

 **o0o**

Marinette ran back to school, hoping to make it back before the lunch break. She was hoping her miraculous would at least last until she got back to school, but it ran out of power while she was still halfway across the city. Even worse, she forgot to grab anything that Tikki could use to recharge her energy and had no money to buy any food or to pay for a ride. She didn't want a lecture from Tikki for just taking something, not to mention Tikki wouldn't eat it if Marinette just took it either, so she decided to just run instead.

She was lucky all her years of forgetfulness and bad luck had gotten her used to running, so she was able to make a full sprint the whole time. At least she managed to find and stop Lady Destroyer quickly, so she still had at least 20 minutes before class started again.

She ran up to school to see Chloe, Alya, Sam,and even Adrien on the front steps.

"Hey Mari," Adrien said as Marinette ran up to meet her friends, "what took you so long."

"Hey," Marinette said in response, "sorry but my mira..." she cut herself off once she realized Sam was here too, "my... my... ride ran out of gas on the way here." She tapped her earrings as she said that.

"I get it," Adrien said.

"The better question," Marinette said, "is what are you doing here?"

"Apparently lover boy slipped away," Sam said, "once he heard about an akuma at the school, he came running to check on you." Marinette could see through the obvious lie that Adrien had told.

"How sweet," Marinette said, jokingly tilting her head.

"So what happened," Alya asked, "I got stuck handling other things and wasn't able to see what happened with the latest akuma." Marinette knew she was talking about how she had to deal with Jade.

"I can tell you," another voice called. Everyone looked down the stairs to see Emilia standing at the base of the stairs. "After you guys left, Emily and Blake came back," Emilia said, "I tried to stand up to them, but they ended up braking my bracelet."

"You always grip it," Marinette said, "does it have some sort of significance?"

"My sister gave it to me," Emilia said, gripping it, "she was always the one to defend me from bullies like them, but then she started traveling the world. She wanted to give me something to help me be brave, so she gave me this bracelet when she left."

"So whenever you want to be brave you trip the bracelet," Sam said.

Emilia nodded, "it helps me get through tough times and means a lot to me."

Sam let out a large smile, "see now that's family love, why can't Eric be more like your sister?"

"Well I'd probably be like him if I had you for a brother," Adrien said.

Sam thought for a second, "Well you're not wrong."

Emilia laughed, "Well I had better get going."

"Where," Sam said, "I thought we were all hanging out."

"Well," Emilia said, "I figured you'd all want me out of your hair."

"Why," Marinette said, "we're all friends here."

Emilia hadn't thought about it, she still had the idea of her being a charity case. She never really had friends like this, ones who would stand up for her and share with. She had always been the loner type, never really trying wanting to be in groups.

"Well," Chloe said, "are you gonna come sit down or what?"

Emilia thought for a second before letting out a smile, "sure." She walked over and sat down with her new friends.

 **o0o**

Hawk Moth stared out his window, contemplating his most recent defeat. Revenge had become an enemy to him, causing those he akumatized to seek those they want revenge on instead of the miraculous, even if the items are within their grasp. Why did every person who felt negative emotions wish for revenge.

"Another failure," Empress said, leaning against the back wall.

"I did not realize you had entered," Hawk Moth said, not turning to face her.

"You did make stealth a part of my powers," Empress said, beginning to pace around Hawk Moth, "So, let me guess, another revenge case who lost track of what you wanted."

Hawk Moth growled, "don't you have other matters to attend to?"

"I do," Empress said, stopping in front of Hawk Moth, "but I enjoy making fun of your failures."

As she made the remark, her hand started blistering in pain. "And I enjoy punishing those who do not listen to me," Hawk Moth said.

"Alright, alright," Empress said through the pain, "I get it." Hawk Moth returned her hand to normal.

"Never forget that I gave you your powers," Hawk Moth said, looking down on her, "I can just as easily take them away."

"Alright," Empress said, rubbing her hand slowly, "I get it."

"Do you have any new information on the miraculous," Hawk Moth said.

"Nope," Empress said, retreating to the area of the room that she had made her own with a series bean bags and pillows for her to plop down on, "the ones that are active have owners that are pretty good at hiding who they are, and the peacock miraculous has still yet to be found."

"Then why are you here," Hawk Moth said.

"To tell you to let me take them on," Empress said, "I have gotten better at using my powers, I want revenge on that stupid bug now."

"No," Hawk Moth said, "now is not the time. Continue with how we planned."

"How you planned you mean," Empress said, "where I look for the miraculous while you do nothing but sit in this room and..." her hand blistered in pain again, "and... and make a valiant effort to succeed in our cause. You're doing great by the way."

He released her hand again, "never forget your place." Hawk Moth turned to leave, "I have other matters to attend to, and so do you, so leave."

"Yes sir," Empress growled out. She left the small large room through the window. Hawk Moth proceeded to leave through the door, closing it behind him and letting the room go dark.

 **o0o**

 **EDITOR'S NOTE:**

pro·cras·ti·na·tion

prəˌkrastəˈnāSH(ə)n

Noun

The action of delaying or postponing something

In all seriousness, I've been extremely caught up working on Amazing Spider-Man and don't have enough coffee to work on two fan fictions at once. I will be continuing this, but I want to finish the first "season" (the Tombstone arc) of that first, So this is on a temporary hiatus with this chapter meant to help tie you guy over for a little bit. Once I finish season one of Amazing Spider-Man, I'll be returning to this, and starting a new mystery project based on something from my childhood. Also, a big shout out to Liz the Sweet Writer for helping me come up with the akuma for this chapter and many to come in the near future.


	9. Dance Maniac

Dance Maniac

Chloe was getting extremely impatient. Chloe patiently waited outside the auditorium for her friends. Emilia had asked if all of them had wanted to come see her sister audition for Swan Lake because her parents were out of town and she didn't want to go alone. Sam volunteered everyone else without hesitation, being too kind for his own good (but then again, that was part of what she liked about him). They had all agreed to meet outside at 4, that was thirty minutes ago. Chloe had no idea where the others were, and at this point she didn't care. All she cared about was that they weren't here, knowing that there wasn't an akuma because no one bothered to get in contact with her. They were all late and she was getting irritated.

"Hey Chlo," Someone called from nearby. She turned to see Sam waving, with Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Emilia behind him. "Sorry we're late," Sam said.

"You are way past late," Chloe said, "Where were you?"

"We... uh... had to make a stop," Sam said, "dropping by the..."

"He got us lost," Adrien cut in.

"Sell out," Sam said, "I've only been living here a little while, cut me some slack. I thought I knew where I was going, I was wrong. Sue me."

"Well you've made everyone else late," Chloe said, "I'm pretty sure the auditions have already started."

"They don't start until 5," Emilia said, "but I wanted to get here early so we could get a chance to see Gabbie."

"You only talk highly of your sister," Adrien said, "so much so that now I really want to meet her."

"She's so nice," Emilia said, "and she's an amazing dancer, beyond amazing."

"Didn't she give you that bracelet," Marinette said, pointing to the small bracelet on Emilia's wrist.

"No," Emilia said, spinning the silver ring around her wrist, "that was my other sister."

"Another sister huh," Sam said, "must be nice to have two sisters."

"Must be nice to have a sister," Marinette said.

"Must be nice to have a caring family," Adrien said dramatically.

"And there goes the mood," Alya said, "how about we go in and see if we can find it again."

"Yeah," Chloe said, "after staring at the same buildings for thirty minutes, a change of scenery could be good."

Emilia excitedly led the way as everyone walked into the large theatre. They all walked into a giant room colored red with golden flooring, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"Talk about high end," Alya said, taking in the beauty of the large room, "it looks nicer than the Bourgeois ballroom."

"Excuse me," Chloe said, "do you want to repeat that?"

"Repeat what," Alya said, "I didn't say anything."

"I'm gonna find my sister," Emilia said, "just wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

"Alright," Marinette said. And with that, Emilia ran off and began searching the large auditorium.

"I wonder who runs this theatre," Sam said, "this place would be an awesome venue for a show."

"This place is too nice for one of your shows," Adrien said.

"Excuse me," Sam said, "what do you mean by 'too nice'? And you're gonna want to choose your words carefully here pretty boy."

"To be fair," Marinette said, "this place is more of a black tie formal and you're more of a... I'll be honest I'm not even sure you know what a suit and tie is."

"I know what a suit and tie is," Sam said, "my family literally owns a international company, and my old man forced me to sit in some of those board meetings."

"You're so intent on proving that you know what a suit and tie is," someone said from behind them, "and yet you choose not to wear one." Everyone turned around to see the familiar tan skin and chestnut brown haired girl.

"Excuse me," Sam said, "I wear what I want, this is a free country. And since when do you care what I wear?"

"Since you're in a high class place," Emilia said, "even if this is just auditions, you should still dress nice."

"Coming from you," Sam said, "seriously, why did you change into that ridiculous get up?"

"Excuse me," She said, gesturing to her clothes. They were different, now she was wearing a pink ballet dress with shoes to match, as well as white roses decorating her hair. "This is what dancers wear," She continued.

"Since when are you a dancer," Sam said, "is that another thing that runs in your family?"

"What are you talking about," she said, a legitamately confused look on her face, "how would you know about my family?"

"Because you told me," Sam said, "you told me about your two sisters and how your whole family is artistic, or did you forget about confiding in your friends?"

"Now Listen here," She said, getting up in Sam's face and pointing an accusing finger, "I never said anything like that to you, so you better explain quickly how you know this or I will..."

"GABBIE," someone shouted from the other side of the large room. Before anyone could see who it was, the new party moved like a blur and hugged Emilia. "I missed you sis," the new figure said.

"Em," Emilia said, "I haven't seen you in forever." The figure backed away so everyone could finally see her face. She also had tan skin and chestnut brown hair. In fact, except for the outfit, her and Emilia looked exactly the same.

"Wait," Sam said, "Why... how... there are two of you."

The one in normal street clothes laughed, "everyone, this is my twin sister Gabbie."

"Twins," Sam said. He thought for a second before pointing at the one in street clothes, "so you're Emilia, and I've been arguing with your sister like an idiot."

"Yeah," Adrien said, "that is what it looks like."

Sam turned towards Gabbie, "I am very sorry."

Gabbie laughed, "it's okay, this isn't the first time something like this has happened."

"Probably won't be the last," Emilia said, "at least this time we weren't mistaken for Lila again."

"Lila," Marinette said with a confused tone. The name had certainly struck a couple of chords in her memories.

"Our other sister," Gabbie said, "we were triplets. Lila, Emilia, and Gabriela, the Holcomb sisters."

"Lila Holcomb," Sam mumbled to himself, his eyes suddenly went wide with realization. Instead of making some witty remark, he went completely silent.

"You okay," Chloe said, grabbing Sam's shoulder, "you look like you've seen a ghost."

Sam shook off his obvious shock, "Yeah, I'm cool. Perfectly fine. Hey Em, how about you tell us about this... Uh... triplet of yours?"

"Well, Lila is really famous so we get mistaken for her really often," Emilia said.

"Not that the attention is bad," Gabbie said, "I personally like signing an autograph now and again."

"The first couple of autographs are fun," Adrien said, "after a while my wrist starts hurting but people keep coming."

"Wait," Chloe said, " _that's_ why you hate signing autographs? All the years I've known you and that's why."

"I have delicate wrists Chlo," Adrien said, "they need to be cared for."

"I normally have to sign autographs after a concert," Sam cut in, "that means I have to sign a bunch of autographs after strumming a guitar for, like, 2 hours, and my wrists still don't hurt."

"DELICATE," Adrien yelled dramatically.

"You are such a dork," Marinette said.

"But I'm your dork," Adrien said, nuzzling up against her.

"Yes you are," Marinette said, "and I'm glad we're such good friends." (I'm not sorry)

"LET IT DIE," Adrien yelled out, "I'M SORRY I'M A LITTLE OBLIVIOUS TO THAT STUFF! I WAS KINDA USED TO GIRLS ACTING THAT WAY ALL THE TIME, IT'S THE LIFE OF THE MODEL!"

"That's nice and all," Sam said, ignoring Marinette and Adrien, "but don't auditions start soon?"

Gabbie rolled up her sleeve to look at her watch and jumped at the time, "right, I'll talk to you guys later."

"Good luck Gabbie," Emilia said.

"Don't need it," Gabbie said before running off.

"Well she was nice," Sam said.

"And you made a great first impression," Chloe said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure she won't forget you making a moron of yourself."

"No one ever does," Sam said, he turned his attention to Emilia, "do you know who else is auditioning?"

"Gabbie told me about some of the other people who were supposed to show," Emilia said, looking up in thought, "no one I really knew though." She thought for a moment before springing up, "WAIT! I remember who else is supposed to be here, it's one of the reasons I invited you."

"Who," Sam said.

Emilia let out a smug smile, "it happened to be a girl by the name of..."

"SAMMY," someone shouted. Before he had a chance to react, a girl jumped onto Sam and hugged him as tight as she could.

"Ow," Sam said, "bones... breaking." He managed to push the girl off him, his eyes went wide when he finally got a look at her. "No way," Sam said, a smile spreading across his face.

"Yes way," the girl said.

Sam opened his mouth to talk, but instead just hugged the girl again. He pushed her back so he could see her again, "what are you doing in Paris?"

"I came to see you," She said, "Well, and I wanted to audition for this, but mostly see you."

"Sure you did Ms. Limelight," Sam said.

"Um... excuse me," Chloe said, looking a little frustrated, "who is this?"

Sam turned back to his friends, he had honestly forgotten that they were there, "oh... right." Sam cleared his throat, "ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet..."

"Ruby Ann Firgate," She cut off, preforming the same type of bow that Sam did when they first met him, "Sam's amazing sister."

Everyone froze up as Ruby stood up straight. They were all able to get a good look at her. The best way to describe her was that she looked like a female version of Sam. She had hazel eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses similar to Sam. She wore her own black jacket, hers being a little bit shorter, and blue jeans with combat boots. Her hair was light brown, but instead of a purple streak going through her hair, it was a red one.

"So wait," Alya said once she recovered from the shock of the situation, "you have a sister?"

Ruby gripped her chest and let out an over dramatic gasp, "You never told them about me."

"I don't talk about any of the family much to be honest," Sam said, "I feel like it will lead to me having to talk about the most annoying little brother ever."

Ruby raised her finger in objection and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped to think for a second. She then nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I can actually agree with that. I wouldn't want to talk about that dog brained brat either."

"So let me get this straight," Marinette said, scratching her head, "How many siblings do you have?"

"Just two," Ruby answered for Sam, "the worlds worst younger brother and the worlds best older sister."

Sam gave her a confused look, "Wait, you're not older than me."

"Yes I am," Ruby said, "the doctor said I am at least two minutes older."

"We're identical," Sam said, "you can't be older than me."

"But I am," Ruby said with a smile, "doctor said it and he's a professional."

"I want a recount," Sam said.

"So you're identical," Adrien said.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Nope," Ruby said, "I'm older."

"Great," Alya said, "now there's two of them."

"Twice the fun," Sam said.

Chloe shuddered a bit at the familiarity of the sentence, reminding her of the shell head fighting Screen Pain. "Twice the headache," Chloe said.

"I don't need help to give people that," Ruby said.

"I hate to interrupt," Emilia cut in, "but auditionsare starting soon."

"Right," Ruby said, "I'll catch you later."

"See ya," Sam said. With that, Ruby ran off.

 **o0o**

The auditions were long. Emilia had failed to mention that the person in charge of the show was some big, international dance genius, so people from all around the world came to audition just for a chance to be in his production.

Marinette and Adrien watched intently, being really fascinated by the dancers that came from all around the world. Alya tried to record the auditions, but some big muscular bouncer threatened to take her phone, so she stopped. Chloe and Emilia continued to go back and forth sbout the individual dancers, almost like they wer the ones holding the auditions. And as for Sam, he put his hood on his head and fell asleep, telling the others to wake him when a dancer he should care about came on (Chloe was extremely irritated by his lack of manners and courtesy.)

After a long time, Gabbie finally came on. Everyone let out a gentle applause, Chloe sharply elbowed Sam to wake him up.

"Ow," Sam groaned out as he sat up and pulled his hood off, "you didn't have to elbow me so hard."

"And you didn't have to sleep through all these people's performances," Chloe said, "but you did, so I elbowed you."

"I needed nap," Sam said, "I've only had late nights for the past week."

"Why," Alya said, "are you actually trying to catch up on all the school work you also sleep through."

"We both know I'd never do that," Sam said, "it's just I always spend late night with the other sup... with my other friends."

"Guys," Emilia said, "Shhhhh, just watch guys."

Everyone simply nodded in agreement and turned back to the stage. Gabbie had already started, dancing around gracefully across the stage. Everyone watched intently as she danced, all of her movements fluent and amazing. Everyone could simply look in awe as Gabbie danced across the stage, spinning her baton and tossing it in the air. None of them could find the appropriate words to describe it.

Despite starting not that long ago, she quickly finished her dance. She stopped in the center of the stage, took a quick bow, and then stepped off the stage.

"I feel like she should of at least done a flip or something," Sam said.

"That is... not how ballet works," Adrien said.

"It should be," Sam said, "flips make all dancing better."

"You still baffle me from time to time," Alya said.

"Good," Sam said, "no one is allowed to fully understand me."

"Then it's good thing you keep getting more confusing," Chloe said.

"Guys, shhhh," Emilia said, "I think that Ruby is up next."

Sure enough, the next person on stage was Ruby. She had changed out of what she was wearing before into a ballet dress and tied back her hair. She took a small bow before beginning her own routine, moving just as gracefully as Gabbie did before her.

Just as quickly as the dancers before her, Ruby finished and bowed before exiting the stage. Everyone let out a gentle applause again as she left.

"Alright," Sam said, beginning to stand up.

"Where do you think you're going," Chloe said, "the auditions aren't over."

"The ones I care about are," Sam said, "I'm gonna head home and get some extra rest. I'll catch you guys later." And with that, Sam left.

"That was rude," Chloe said, "does he not understand it's rude to leave in the middle of a show?"

"I don't think he cares," Alya said.

"To be fair," Adrien said, "this isn't a show, just auditions for one."

"It doesn't make it not rude," Marinette said, "you can't just leave during someones performance."

"Guys," Emilia said, "you're right, but it's also rude to talk during someone else's performance."

"Right," Marinette said, "we can talk about it later." Everyone nodded in agreement and turned back to the large stage to watch.

 **o0o**

"You did great Gabbie," Emilia said, hugging her sister once she found her in the lobby after the auditions are over, "that was some of the best dancing I've ever seen."

"Thanks Em," Gabbie said, returning the hug, "I put everything I got into it."

"It was amazing," Marinette said, "it was better than any dance I've seen before.'

"But then I came on," Ruby said, joining the group, "and that became the best dance you've ev... where's Sammy?"

"He left after your audition," Chloe said, "saying he was going to take a nap."

"That sounds like Sammy," Ruby said, letting out a slight nod, "although he's never been known to take naps."

"He keeps finding new ways to surprise everyone," Adrien said.

"our whole family is pretty good at that," Ruby said, "well, except for the youngest brat in the family."

"ATTENTION," a loud voice boomed throughout the hall. Everyone looked up to see a slender man in a black suit with sleek brown hair and pencil thin mustache, Marinette recognized him as the man in charge of the show. "I have made my decisions," he called out once again.

"That was fast," Alya said.

"He is a genius in his field," Gabbie said, "in fact, he normally takes less time."

"Amazing," Marinette said.

"Now for the roles," the man with the pencil thin mustache continued, "I would like to thank all of you for auditioning, there were many great auditions that made it hard for me to choose, but after much deliberation, I decided." He then pulled a large sheet of paper from his coat and unfolded it, "this will be posted here all day for anyone to see."

The man placed the list on the bulletin board in the center of the room, "practice begins here at the same time tomorrow, not be late." He then pushed through the crowd that had formed around the list and took his leave.

The crowd had gotten ravenous, fighting each other just to see the list. While the crowd fought, Ruby and Gabbie stood back, Ruby looking at her phone, Gabbie checking her nails.

"Aren't you two gonna check the list," Marinette asked.

"We will," Gabbie said, not looking away from her nails.

"While pencil 'stache was blabbing, we agreed to wait until the crowd died down before checking," Ruby said, "that way we don't get run over trying to look."

"Besides," Gabbie added, "it's not like anyone else has a chance to get the lead."

"Yeah," Ruby said, "it's obvious I'm gonna get it."

"Excuse me," Gabbie said, looking up from her nails, "what do you mean you're gonna get it?"

"I mean I'm the obvious choice," Ruby said, "there was no one half as good as me."

"No one half as good," Gabbie said, "but you're looking at the girl that's twice as good."

"Really," Ruby said, looking around, "where is she? I'd love to meet her."

"Funny," Gabbie said, "but I can understand how you'd want to soften the blow of your loss with humor."

"And what makes you so certain that you got it," Ruby asked, getting closer to Gabbie

"Because I'm clearly better," Gabbie said, getting closer to Ruby.

As the two got closer to each other, Marinette stepped between them. "Okay everyone," She said, planting a hand on both their chests to keep them from getting closer, "maybe we're getting a little too worked up." Both girls ignored her.

"I was right after you," Ruby said, "which means I saw you dancing, you were certainly not better than me."

"And I saw you," Gabbie said, "you were _definitely_ not better than me."

"Wanna bet," Ruby said.

"We should really be calm," Marinette said.

"If you really want to lose more," Gabbie said, "I'd be happy to oblige."

"This probably isn't a good idea guys," Marinette said, "maybe we should just calm down."

"Forget the crowd," Ruby said, "I want to show you how you're wrong now."

"And I want to see the look on your face when you see how you didn't make the cut," Gabbie said.

Both girls quickly darted for the large crowd, knocking Marinette to the ground as they did. Adrien and Chloe quickly rushed to help her up, Emilia rushed after Ruby and Gabbie.

"I'm fine," Marinette said, "not my first fall."

"Won't be your last," Chloe said. Marinette would've been insulted, but both of them knew it was true.

"Why did you get between them," Adrien said, helping Marinette dust off her jacket, "it was just friendly rivalry."

"You poor, innocent sunshine child," Alya said, "that was more then friendly rivalry. Anyone with experience could tell."

"And believe me," Chloe said, "we have a lot of experience in that field."

"They were both very intense," Marinette said.

"And the one that loses is going to be anything but happy," Chloe continued.

"Which is not a good thing when your worst enemy is a super villain who turns people into villains whenever they are anything but happy," Alya finished.

"Oh," Adrien said, "I'll be honest I didn't think of that."

"We need to do something," Marinette said. Everyone nodded in agreement and took off after the others.

Ruby and Gabbie had already pushed through most of the crowd, both of them already being halfway through it. The miraculous team slowly pushed through the crowd, Marinette being to nice to just charge her way through.

"YES," one of the girls shouted through the crowd, none of the miraculous holders could tell who it was. They continued to push their way through the crowd until they made it to the front.

When they got there, they could see Ruby throwing her arms up into the air, doing a little victory dance, Gabbie had her head hanging low, Emilia comforting her with a hand on her shoulder. Marinette looked at the paper:

 **Swan Princess- Ruby Firgate**

 **Understudy- Gabriela Holcomb**

"It's okay," Emilia said to Gabbie, "it's not like you don't get the role."

"Yeah," Gabbie said, "I just need to hope something happens to her."

"Don't worry," Ruby said, "I promise to bring some class to the role."

"Yeah," Gabbie said, dissapointment in her tone. She let out a long sigh, "I need to walk for a bit."

Gabbie slowly pushed her way back through the crowd. Marinette tried to push back through to follow her, but was stopped by Emilia. "Just let her be Marinette," she said, "no one can really comfort her when she gets like this, it's better just to give her time and space."

Marinette let out a light grimace, "Yes, but..."

"Trust me," Emilia cut off, "it's better to leave her alone."

Marinette needed to stay near Gabbie, but what could she say? I just want to be near her in case an akuma appears so that way I can purify it before it gets to her? There was no way she could tell Emilia that without giving away her identity. "Well... I..." Marinette started to choke out, trying to make up something.

"No excuses," Emilia said, almost as if she could read Marinette's mind, "let's just sit down and wait."

Marinette certainly hadn't seen Emilia like this, she seemed almost like a different person. While she had only known Emilia for a short time, she had been known to be very easy going, preferring to follow others, but now she seemed like she wasn't going to take anything from anyone.

Marinette looked at the rest of her team, all of them simply gave looks that said "I can't help you here". Marinette finally let out a defeated sigh, "alright Em, we'll wait."

 **o0o**

Gabbie slipped into a nearby alley, slumping down and hanging her head. She came here hoping to escape the sights of others and think for a bit, not realizing there was someone who couldn't just see her, but could feel her discontent.

The window to the large room slowly opened, releasing the light into the large room. A series of butterflies took off into the air as the light flooded down onto the man in the silver mask in a purple suit with a butterfly brooch.

"A poor girl who had her chance at fame taken from her," Hawk Moth said as he looked out the large window, "the perfect prey for my akuma."

He placed his cane between his arm and his side before stretching out his palm. One of the many white butterflies flew into his palm, which he proceeded to cover with his other hand. As he did so, black energy flooded into the butterfly. When Hawk Moth uncovered it, it had transformed from a brilliant white to a horrid black with purple markings.

The small akuma took off into the air, beginning its search for its newest victim. "Fly my akuma," Hawk Moth said as he took his cane back into his hand, spun it, then clicked the end into the floor, "go help this lost soul reclaim her fame."

The akuma flew out through the small hole in the window and set out across the Parisian skyline. The small butterfly eventually found the alley that held the girl with the chestnut brown hair, disheartedly spinning her baton in her hand. It descended down to Gabbie, landing on her small baton and merging with it. Gabbie straightened up, a voice ringing in her head as a purple butterfly design appeared in front of her face.

"Greetings Dance Maniac," Hawk Moth said inside her head, "I am Hawk Moth. I see that you are clearly upset by how you won't get to show the city your talent, so I will grant you the power to make your own show and let the world see how amazing you are. In return, I merely ask that you bring me the miraculous of those heroes." With these last words, images of a series of jewels appeared in Gabbie's head. "So," Hawk Moth continued, "do we have a deal?"

Gabbie let out a crooked smile, "let the show begin." The butterfly design in front of her disappeared and Gabbie was quickly enveloped by black smoke.

 **o0o**

Marinette couldn't sit still. She thought about how it was possible that Gabbie could get akumatized, and that made her anxious. However, no matter how much she tried, Emilia wouldn't let her leave. Marinette has tried every excuse in her book, but Emilia saw through all of them, knowing that Mari would just go looking for Gabbie. Marinette had thought that she could at least have the rest of the team go contain the situation until she was able to get away and transform, but Emilia wouldn't let them leave either, probably figuring they would do the same as Mari.

So the team was stuck, simply waiting for trouble to come to them. Adrien had started pacing, Chloe had started to check her nails to try and get her mind off the matter (Marinette could tell it wasn't working), and Alya had sent out an APB on the Ladyblog for any akuma activity (so far with no luck).

Ruby didn't even care. She instead ran off, hoping to go catch up with Sam and tell him the good news.

"What's got you guys so worked up," Emilia said as she watched the team preform their nervous actions.

"It's nothing," Marinette lied, "we're just a little worried about your sister."

"Don't worry," Emilia said with a smile, "Gabbie has never been one to let this kind of stuff get to her."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," a loud voice boomed through the room. Everyone turned to see a woman standing in the center of the room. She had blue skin with the right half of her hair being purple and the left half pink with it being tied into two ponytails and was wearing a black ballet dress with a pink right sleeve and a purple left sleeve ending in black gloves with dark blue leggings and black shoes. No one needed to look at her long to know she was an akuma victim.

"ALLOW ME TO INDRODUCE MYSELF," she continued, spinning a small blue baton with one end of it purple the other end pink in her hand,"I AM DANCE MANIAC, AND I AM PUTTING ON A SHOW THAT WILL BE SPOKEN OF FOR CENTURIES! THE NEXT SWAN LAKE, THE NEXT ROMEO AND JULIET, THE NEXT HAMILTON, AND SO I NEED THE BEST DANCERS TO TAKE PART IN IT! SO WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN MY CABAL?"

No one answered, instead looking in shock at the akuma victim. Dance Maniac grimaced at the silence. "Very well," she said in a low growl, "then I guess we're doing this the hard way." She spun her baton in her hand, stopping it with the pink end up. The pink end began to glow, generating a glowing orb with a matching color. She threw the orb, hitting one of the dancers that was still gathered around the list, enveloping her pink light. When the light faded, the dancer was now wearing a bright pink ballet dress with pink skin.

"You will be the first of the performers in my show," Dance Maniac said, spinning her baton, "but we still need some stage hands." She stopped her baton with the purple end up, firing a purple ball at another dancer. The dancer was enveloped by purple light, once fadeing revealing that he was instead had purple skin in a purple boiler suits with the word "staff" written across the back.

The crowd quickly started panicking, running for any exit they could find. "Excuse me," Dance Maniac called out, "but I'm not done picking my performers." She threw a barrage of purple balls of energy at a few of the people at the front of the crowd, transforming them into her stage hands and having them block the doors. Dance Maniac then began to go through the crowd that had gathered around the locked doors in hopes of breaking through them, one by one turning people either into her pink dancers or her purple stage hands.

The miraculous team and Emilia had been off to the side of the the large room, so Dance Maniac didn't notice them hiding in the corner behind a large sofa.

"Gabbie," Emilia said, her was soft and concerned, tears welling in her eyes.

"We need to get out of here," Marinette said, looking over the sofa to see Dance Maniac slowly transforming the crowd.

"How," Chloe said, "the akuma has barred all the doors. We have nowhere to go."

"We're gonna need to get creative," Marinette said, ducking back behind the couch, "all we need to do is get past one of those stage hands and we're in the clear."

"But what about Gabbie," Emilia said, her voice cracking a bit as she said it.

"We can't help her," Adrien said, "we'll just have to trust that Ladybug and the other heroes can."

"But who will help you," someone said from the other side of the sofa. Suddenly, a pair of purple hands appeared on either side of the sofa and threw it into the air to reveal Dance Maniac and a couple of her stage hands on the other side.

Dance Maniac let out a hum of thought, "none of you look like dancers." She started spinning her baton until the purple end was up, "I guess you'll have to be stage hands. It's a shame, there's some pretty faces here."

Marinette didn't know what to do. The team was backed into a corner with Dance Maniac in front of them and her stage hands on everywhere else. Even if one of the team acted as a distraction, there would be nowhere for the rest of them to go. And they certainly couldn't transform now, with an akuma in front of them, Hawk Moth would see them transform and know who they were. They were completely trapped.

Marinette didn't know what to do. She certainly couldn't give away her identity, but she also couldn't let Dance Maniac take control of her and the rest of the team. She needed to do something, and unfortunately, there was only one thing to do.

She gave Adrien a glance, he returned it. He could tell what was going through her head, and while he didn't like it, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"You know what," Dance Maniac said, spinning her baton so that the pink end was up, "I think I will make you dancers, pretty faces like those shouldn't go to waste."

She generated a pink ball and prepared to throw it at Marinette. Marinette unclipped the latch on her hand bag, shining light on the small kwami inside. Adrien prepped to jump in case he needed to.

In a flash, everything happened. Dance Maniac threw her ball of energy, Adrien jumped forward to block the attack from hitting Marinette, and Marinette brushed her hair away from her ear.

"TIKKI..."

Before she could finish her transformation call, a green and yellow figure dropped down from the ceiling and smacked the energy ball away with his shield.

"You know," Jade Turtle said, "I was having a nice day. Someone from out of town, from out of country, came to see me. Well they decided to audition for this, and I realized this is some big international thing, so I decided I would come down all shelled up and let these people from all over the world get a chance to see a real life super hero, and you ruined it."

Dance Maniac scanned him up and down, "you are certainly not a dancer." She spun her baton so that the purple end was up, "but with that strength you'll make a great stage hand."

"Are you even listening to me," Jade said, clearly annoyed, "you already ruined my day, the least you could do is listen to my rant about it."

Dance Maniac ignored him again and instead threw a purple ball of energy at him, which he promptly smacked away with his shield.

"You are the epitome of rude," Jade said.

"Um... excuse me," Emilia said, "Mr. Turtle..."

"Mr. Turtle was my father," Jade cut in, "just call me Jade."

"Okay Jade," Emilia said, "can you please not hurt her, she's my sister."

Jade scanned the akuma and the area around her, "with all the purple guys, I'm more worried about her hurting me." He backed a bit closer to the group behind him as the stage hands all got closer. "Priority one," Jade said, "safety of civilians, I have no idea what Red would do to me if I let her friend get hurt." Marinette had forgotten she had told him she was Ladybugs friend when he got hurt.

"So what's your plan," Marinette said, clipping her bag shut and getting a quick glimpse at her angry kwami.

"I've never been known for plans," Jade said, "always more of an improv kind of guy." He scanned the area, "although I do have one plan." He charged forward, slamming Dance Maniac with his shield and sending her flying back. Her stage hands quickly began to advance on him, to which he responded by spinning in circles with his shield out, hitting them whenever they got close.

Once all the stage hands had been smacked away, Jade slowed his spin to a halt. "Uhg," Jade said, wobbling a bit, "can you guys help me for a second, that gave me really bad vertigo."

Marinette and Adrien ran over and helped him stand up straight. "Alright," Jade said, his face looking almost as green as his suit, "now that we've gotten the bad guys away, we need to get you guys further away."

Jade stumbled forward, guiding the group to the nearest exit. When the stage hand blocking the door attempted to stop them, Jade smacked him away. "Run fast," Jade said, his wobbling starting to stop and his face returning to its normal shade, "find somewhere safe and stay there."

"On it," Alya said.

Jade leaned in, Alya backing away as he did so. "Don't think I don't know about your blog," Jade said, the intensity in his eyes could be _felt_ through his goggles, "you always tell about akumas from first hand perspective, the kind that can only be told if you are at these attacks. So you had better get to safety and _stay_ safe." He spun around and prepped his shield as more of the stage hands came up to him and Dance Maniac herself came back.

"I change my mind," Dance Maniac said, "I don't want you for a dancer or a stage hand, I'm just gonna take your fancy bracelet and throw you into the river."

"I'll have to postpone that offer," Jade said with a smirk, "I didn't bring my floaties with me, and I never go swimming without them." He quickly looked over his shoulder and said "run" Before turning his attention back to the akuma.

The group quickly turned around and followed Jade's orders, taking off as fast as they could to get away from the fight.

They had to have run all the way to the next arondissement before finally stopping to catch their breath. "I think we'll be safe here guys," Emilia huffed out, "I doubt the akuma will come here." Emilia turned around to check on her friends and make sure they were okay, only to notice all of them missing.

 **o0o**

"What were you thinking Marinette," Tikki said as she fluttered out of the small handbag, "you could've revealed your secret to Hawk Moth."

"But if I didn't, we'd be in purple boiler suits and there'd be no one to purify the akuma," Marinette said.

"I'm with Mari," Adrien said, "she's to important to be taken by an akuma."

"If Shell Head hadn't showed up, who knows what could've happened," Chloe said.

"I'm sorry," Trixx forced out through her laughter, "that is important, but we seriously need to talk about how the turtle grilled you out girl."

Alya looked at her kwami completely unamused, "sometimes I hate that he doesn't know our identities."

"To be fair," Pollen said, "he doesn't want to know, he's very stubborn about it."

"Who cares," Plagg added, "at least that snooze fest is over, all that dancing was so boring. You think we can let him take of it and get some Camembert, I'm sure he can handle it."

"He was having trouble with just the few guys that had been transformed into the stage hands," Adrien said, "hence why we need to help him."

"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"

"TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

"TRIXX, TAIL UP!"

"POLLEN, STINGERS OUT!"

In a brilliant flash, the four transformed into the brightly colored super heroes. Once each of them had transformed, they all set off back towards where they had left Jade and where the akuma was bound to be.

 **o0o**

Jade used his shield to hold up all the stage hands that had begun charging at him. "Can't you fight for yourself," Jade called out to the akuma.

"I can't fight," Dance Maniac said, "I've got a show to prepare for. Speaking of which..." she turned to leave, "I need to prep for the show, get that bracelet and then head for the venue."

The stage hands nodded and Dance Maniac left. "So you're ditching me," Jade shouted out, "if you're gonna start a fight with me, least you can do is finish it."

She ignored him and continued to leave. "Of all the super villains," Jade shouted, hoping that she could still here him, "You are the rudest. At least none of them left mid fight."

He was outnumbered and all the stage hands were starting to over power him, and he wasn't even dealing with the ones that were surrounding him. Even if he could get the ones that were pushing down on his shield off, there were too many waiting in he wings to get away.

He decided better to take them on one by one then all at once. He pushed as hard as he could onto his shield, sending the horde that was on top of it flying back. The second he sent them back, all the stage hands waiting in the wings charged forward. He prepped his shield in front of him, not noticing the stage hands that were charging from behind.

He only caught them out of the corner of his eye when they got close, but luckily, a familiar black cat and orange fox dropped down and stopped the stage hands charging from behind.

"Sorry guys," Cat Noir said, holding a small group of the stage hands up with his staff, "but it's time for the curtain call." He spun his staff and knocked away all the stage hands that had built up around him.

"Shows not over yet Cat," Rena Rouge said as she mimicked Cat's motion with her flute, "we still have an akuma to stop."

"Shame she didn't stay for the final bow," Jade said, pushing away the stage hands that had built up on his shield, "you guys just missed her, what took you so long?"

"You know how much grooming time it takes to look this good," Cat said, "spoiler: a lot."

"And what about the Red and Honey Hive," Jade said, prepping his shield for the next wave of stage hands.

As he said it, a series of golden and red streaks went soaring through the air, leaving black strings behind them as they did. The strings quickly tightened and all of the stage hands were tied up in them. Queen Bee and Ladybug quickly descended down on their weapons, raising the stage hands into the air as they did.

"You called," Queen Bee said.

"Must've got a wrong number," Jade said with a smirk.

"Where's the akuma," Ladybug cut them off so that they didn't start bickering like they always did.

"Like I told the fur balls," Jade said, "I don't know. She ran off just before you got here. She said something about preparing for the show at a venue."

"Where's the venue," Rena said.

"If I knew that I would've told you," Jade said.

Ladybug lowered her head and hummed in thought, "if she's trying to make a show, she'll need an audience. I assume she'll go to a major landmark in order to find that."

"Perfect," Jade said, "that limits our options to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Grand Palais, and those are just the landmarks I can think of off the top of my head."

"He's right," Rena said, "we have no way of knowing where this venue is."

Ladybug let out another hum of thought, "you're right. We'll just have to split up and look. Turtle, check the are around the Eiffel Tower. Cat, Volpina..."

"Rena Rouge," She corrected.

"Right," Ladybug said, "not used to it yet. Anyway, Rena and Cat can check out the arc and the louvre. Me and Bee will... Bee?"

Bee was lost in thought as she stared at the various stage hands that they had tied up. "Weren't there pink ones too," She finally said.

"What are you talking about," Jade said, "I only saw purple."

Ladybug scanned the tied up stage hands and came to the same conclusion, "you're right. There were the purple stage hands and the pink dancers."

"So what," Jade said, "she has two types of minions, big deal."

"Clearly your head is as dense as your shield," Bee said, "in show business, stage hands aren't like performers. Stage hands do all the heavy lifting to set up the show and go all over the city to get what is needed."

"But performers go straight to the stage to practice," Ladybug continued, "not to mention I doubt Dance Maniac would want to have her dancers fighting."

"So we find one of her dancers," Rena said, "and we'll find our akuma."

"It's our best opportunity," Ladybug said, "if we try to follow the stage hands, we'll likely just get into another fight."

"I'm for the plan," Cat said, "besides, after fighting off all those guys, splitting up could be paw-ful." Jade smacked Cat up the head. "What was that for," Cat said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We've been working together for a while," Jade said, "and I am really sick of your puns."

"Finally something we can agree on," Bee said.

"Guys," Rena said, "we can talk about Cat's horrible sense of humor later, right now there's an akuma to worry about."

"Yeah," Ladybug said, "now that we got a plan, let's go find her."

 **o0o**

The team managed to luckily find one of the dancers very quickly. It wasn't hard with how they stick out like a sore thumb. They caught the dancer going down the middle of the street, so they had no idea where it came from and couldn't go there to catch Dance Maniac. Instead, they would just have to stick to the plan and follow the dancer to this "venue" that Dance Maniac has set out.

They followed the pink dancer for a while before finally reaching the venue chosen, the Arc de Triomphe. They stared at the landmark as the stage hands worked, prepping it for the show. There were two sets of seats on either side of the arc, each hooked up to a scissor lift to raise the seats up to the top of the arc, which was meant to be the stage.

"My favorite landmark in all of Paris," Jade said as he watched the stage hands go to work, "a true architectural masterpiece, and they're turning it into a giant stage."

"I personally prefer the Eiffel Tower," Ladybug said, "where do you think Dance Maniac is?"

"Probably looking for more staff and dancers," Bee said, "this is certainly no small production."

"YOU IDIOTS," a loud shout rang from the top of the arc, "THAT SET PIECE IS SUPPOSED TO GO ON THE OTHER END!"

"Or she's running construction of her set," Rena said.

"The latter seems more likely," Ladybug said, "let's go." The entire team jumped from the building where they were perched and hopped on one of the scissor lift seats.

"Going up," Cat Noir said as he flipped the switch to raise the lift. They slowly ascended upwards, Jade mumbling under his breath about all the changes that Dance Maniac had made to the arc, nothing pleasant.

They eventually reached the top where all the dancers were practicing, and Dance Maniac was looking down on the construction of her set. "NO YOU FOOL," She shouted, "THAT GOES OVER THERE!" She rubbed her forehead, "so hard to find good help."

"Yo Tiny Dancer," Jade shouted, all the other heroes looking at him with anger as he did so.

Dance Maniac perked up and turned around to see all of the heroes, letting out an almost psychotic smile. "I see you decided to join us," she said, spinning her baton.

"Hey kelp for brains," Bee said, "haven't you ever heard of the ELEMENT OF SURPRISE!"

Jade ignored her. "You ruined a masterpiece of architecture," he continued, pointing an accusing finger at the akuma, "you ruined my surprise for the international folks, and you have just generally ruined my day. So, I'm gonna have to make you fall apart to half time."

Dance Maniac laughed, "sorry, but I have to practice. Why don't you tango with these guys for now?" She snapped her fingers and a wall of her stage hands formed in front of her.

The heroes jumped onto the arc and prepped their weapons as the stage hands got closer. "I've never been much of a tango guy," Cat Noir said, "personally, I always preferred break dancing." He flipped onto his hands and spun on his head, kicking all of the stage hands that were nearby and sent them flying back.

Dance Maniac sighed, "I guess if you want something done right..." she held out her baton, which began to extend until it was the length of a bo staff, "you have to do it yourself."

"Hey," Cat Noir said, "that's my shtick." He then paused and thought for a minute, letting out a short laugh afterwards, "I've gotten so good at puns, I do them unintentionally." Jade smacked him upside the head again.

"Focus," Jade said, "we still have to deal with... give me a minute, I'll come up with a clever way to insult her."

"Nothing you say is clever," Bee said, "now take your own advice and focus."

"The akuma has to be in her baton," Ladybug said.

"Oh really," Jade said, "I personally was thinking it was going to be in her left hair tie. Instead of stating what seems pretty obvious, how about you focus on how to get the akuma."

Dance Maniac charged forward with her extended baton, Cat blocked her attack with his staff. "We should think fast," Cat said, "I personally don't want to start taking ballet lessons."

"He's right," Ladybug said, "we have to take care of this quickly."

"On it," Jade said. He charged forward and vaulted over Cat to attack Dance Maniac from above. She kicked Cat away and smacked Jade with her staff to send him flying over the edge.

"At least shell brain is out of the way," Bee said, "now we can focus."

"Shame he can't land on his feet," Cat said.

"Half the time, neither can you," Rena said.

"Bug, we're gonna need a plan," Bee said, dodging the stage hands as they charged her.

"When all else fails," Ladybug said. She threw her yo-yo into the air, "LUCKY CHARM." A series of ladybugs came together to form a red guitar with black spots.

"Does anyone know how to play guitar," Rena said.

"Jade said he knows how," Cat added.

"Guys be quiet," Ladybug said, scanning the area, "keep her busy while I figure this out."

"On it," Bee said. She threw her trompo and wrapped it around Dance Maniac's staff. Dance Maniac spun her staff to wrap more of the trompo around the staff and pulled Bee closer to her and kicking her in the chest, taking her weapon. Rena charged forward with her reed flute, but got blocked by the akuma with her staff. Dance Maniac spun off of Rena and threw the trompo around her. Once she had Rena tied up, Dance Maniac reached for the fox tail necklace. She was stopped by a silver staff hitting her in the hand.

"Sorry," Cat said as he retracted his staff, "I'm afraid that doesn't belong to you."

Dance Maniac pushed the still tied up Rena over. "Don't go anywhere," she said, picking up Rena's flute and spinning it in her hand. Rena struggled to break free while Bee charged at the akuma. Dance Maniac shortened her baton to the same length as Rena's flute, using the two weapons to block Bee and send her flying back.

Cat charged forward with his staff, Dance Maniac blocking his attack with her weapons. She rolled off of his attack, vaulting on his staff, landing behind him, and kicking him in the back.

"Would be good if you could figure out what to do with that guitar," Cat said, "and a lot less painful."

"I can't figure it out," Ladybug said, "I don't know what to do with this thing." She kept looking around, but nothing stood out in her mind. Her miraculous beeped in her ear, she was running out of time. She had no clue what to do here, so she needed to move somewhere else. "Hey Dance Maniac," she called out, getting the akuma's attention, "wouldn't you want Paris' star heroine for your show."

Dance Maniac looked at her and hummed in thought, "you certainly would bring in more of a crowd." She spun her baton so that the pink end was up,"why not." She threw a ball of pink energy, Ladybug flipping back in order to dodge it.

"If you want me you better catch me," Ladybug said, putting the guitar strap over her shoulder and flipping it onto her back. She turned around and jumped off the arc, throwing her yo-yo around one of the statues on the side and swinging to the ground.

"So glad you could join me Red," Jade said, throwing a stage hand off of his back. Ladybug had honestly forgotten he had fallen down here, but seeing him did give her an idea.

"Oh Ladybug," Dance Maniac called, running down the side of the arc, "why would you audition if you didn't ant the part?" Dance Maniac landed in front of Ladybug, swinging her baton and Rena's flute to try and hit her, Ladybug flipping back again to avoid her.

"Jade follow my lead," Ladybug said as she landed next to the other hero, "I may have a plan, but I'm gonna need your help."

"I'm all ears Red," Jade said, putting his back against Ladybug's and prepping his shield.

Dance Maniac prepped another pink ball of energy, Ladybug threw her hands in the air. "Hold on," she said, "everyone wait."

Dance Maniac lowered her baton, letting the energy ball die and tilting her head in confusion, "what is this?"

"Well if we're gonna be a part of your show," Ladybug said, "then we should a least see what our leading star is capable of."

"Red," Jade whispered over his shoulder, "what are you doing?"

"I said follow my lead," Ladybug whispered back. "We were hoping you could give us a little demonstration," Ladybug continued, hoping her bluff would work.

Dance Maniac thought for a second, "I guess you're right." She snapped her fingers and all her stage hands stepped back. "I will happily give you a demonstration," Dance Maniac said with a smile, "just give me some music."

"Alright," Ladybug said. She turned around and shoved the guitar into Jade.

"What are you doing," Jade said.

"Be quiet," Ladybug said, "play this, and hope this works."

He reluctantly took the guitar and strapped it over his shoulder. He took off his gloves and tucked them into his robe. He sat down on the ground and started to slowly strum the guitar.

Dance Maniac began to move with the music, slowly dancing to the rhythm that Jade provided. Ladybug recognized the dance, she knew it was the one Dance Maniac would do, now she just needed to wait for the right moment.

The routine went very slowly, Ladybug could hear her earrings beeping again. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Cat, Bee, and Rena lowering themselves down, Ladybug signaled for them to hold off on their attack.

Finally the part of the routine she was waiting for came up. Dance Maniac spun around and threw her baton in the air, Ladybug took advantage of this. She leaped into the air and snatched the baton, landing with a roll.

"HEY," Dance Maniac shouted, "THAT'S MINE!" Dance Maniac prepared to charge, but got hit in the back by a guitar.

"Show's over," Jade said. He looked at the guitar, only the neck remained, the rest was shattered with bits and pieces hanging off the strings, "and I can guarantee there isn't going to be an encore."

Ladybug took the baton and snapped it over her knee, releasing the akuma inside. She quickly went through the motions of purifying the akuma and released it, "bye bye little butterfly." She took the shattered guitar and threw it into the air shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

The guitar exploded into a wave of butterflies that spread across Paris, returning citizens back to normal and fixing all the damage that had been caused.

"Pound it," the heroes said as they fist bumped.

Ladybug's earring beeped again, she only had about a minute left. "Mind dealing with the last of the cleanup," she said, "I got to run."

"You got it m'lady," Cat said, "why don't you boogie out of here." Jade slapped him on the back of the head again. "STOP THAT!"

"Be funny," Jade said.

Ladybug let out a slight laugh before throwing her yo-yo into the air and swinging onto a nearby building.

"Well you guys seem to have it covered," Jade said, turning around to leave, "I have better things to do."

"What could be better than working with us," Bee said.

"With them," Jade said, gesturing to Rena and Cat, "Nothing. With you, literally anything else." Before Bee could rebuttal, Jade took off.

"We should probably get going," Rena said, "everything seems to be under control for now."

"Yeah," Cat said, "plus we need to get back and make sure everyone else is okay."

"Right," The other two said, and they all ran off to find a place to detransform.

 **o0o**

Marinette had been the last to catch up with her friends. After the last attack, they decided to regroup at the bakery, making it mildly ironic how she was late. Alya said Emilia and Gabbie were coming and Sam had decided to come, saying he was sick of sleeping anyways.

"I'm sorry I took so long," Marinette said as she walked into the bakery. She walked in to see Adrien and Emilia eyeballing the glass case full of pastries, Alya was in the corner on her phone (Marinette assumed she was updating the Ladyblog), Chloe was in back with Tom, helping him make pastries, Sam had found a nice wall to lean on and put in his headphones, Gabbie had bought a small croissant and had started picking it apart in an unenthusiastic manner. The one thing that Marinette wasn't expecting was for Ruby to be here too, trying to get Sam to pay attention to her.

"It's okay girl," Alya said, "we're kind of used to it."

"What kept you," Ruby said, giving up on trying to get Sam's attention.

"I ran to a part of the city I didn't recognize and got lost," Marinette said, "I kind of panicked when that akuma showed up."

"Speaking of that," Ruby said, "what was that akuma thing?"

"It's hard to explain," Chloe said, wiping off her hands, "basically this guy named Hawk Moth terrorizes the whole city. Whenever someone feels negative emotions, he sends one of those akumas to turn them into a super villain."

"Luckily we have super heroes to take care of them," Adrien said, not taking his eyes off of the pastries.

"Wow," Ruby said, "real life super heroes and villains. That's... terrifyingly awesome."

"It happens to everyone," Sam said, his headphones still on, "happened to me my first day of school."

"Stop reading my lips," Ruby said.

"Never," Sam said with a smug smile.

"He reads lips," Adrien said with confusion.

"He does a lot of things," Ruby said, "some of them cool, some of them weird, some of them straight up creepy."

"Such as reading lips," Marinette said.

"Bingo Strings," Sam said.

"I hate that," Ruby said, "so much."

"Let's move away from Sam's creepiness," Alya said, "we should probably talk about the ballet."

"Yeah," Ruby said, "I'm dropping out of that."

"WHAT," Gabbie said, springing up, "you're just quitting?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, "turns out I'm staying in Paris for a lot less time then I thought. I'll be gone before the show is actually finished." She let out a light sigh, "guess the role will just have to go to my understudy."

Gabbie was going to rebuttal, but then realized what she was saying, "you mean... I'm getting the part."

"I guess so," Ruby said, slightly shrugging her shoulders, "shame I couldn't stay longer."

Gabbie suddenly lit up with excitement, "YES, YES, YES! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, YES!" She tuned around and grabbed Emilia, "come on Em, we have to tell mom and dad." Before Emilia could rebuttal, Gabbie dragged her out the door.

"I got to go too," Sam said, kicking off the wall and standing up, "I got better things to do."

"What better things," Chloe said.

"Songs to write," Sam said, "groceries to buy, a cat to take care of. I'll catch you guys later." He turned to leave, but stopped and looked over his shoulder, "you coming Rubes."

"Coming Sammy," Ruby said, turning to follow.

"Bye Sammy," Adrien said with a smile.

"Call me that again I'll mess up your face so you can never model again," Sam said. Adrien gulped and went silent. Sam let out a laugh and left, Ruby following behind him.

"So what happened to you saying you were going to stay in Paris for as long as you'd like," Sam said as they walked down the street.

"What happened to you saying you'd stop reading my lips," Ruby said.

"Different country," Sam said, "different rules. So are you leaving or not."

"I'm here for as long as I care to stay," Ruby said, "but after hearing that that Gabbie girl got transformed into a literal super villain against her will, I thought she deserved some sort of win."

Sam let out a small laugh, "you really are just like me."

"Only I'm older," Ruby said, "now, more importantly..." She leaned closer to Sam, "when did you get a cat?"

 **END**


	10. Blackjack

Blackjack

"What's wrong Marinette," Tikki said as she fluttered around Marinette's head. Marinette had been blankly staring at the ceiling all morning and it was starting to be concerning to the little kwami.

"It's nothing Tikki," Marinette said, "I'm just thinking about the team."

"You're not thinking about the team," Tikki said, "you're thinking about Jade Turtle."

Marinette huffed, "he is a bit of a mystery."

"More then a bit," Tikki said, "he always shows off, but tries to stay out of the public eye and avoids press. He acts less like a guardian and more like an older brother with how he acts around Cat Noir and Queen Bee. Not to mention his habit of calling none of you by your actual names."

"We both know that's not what I'm thinking about," Marinette said.

Tikki let out a light sigh, "you want to know who he really is, don't you?"

"The whole team does," Marinette said, "he is the only one who hasn't revealed his identity to us."

"Probably because he doesn't want to," Tikki said, "I believe you were the one that said 'no one should know who we are, not even us'."

"That was back when I was just starting to be Ladybug," Marinette said, "I didn't realize just how inconvenient it was for us to not know each others identities."

"But you did know the importance of keeping our identities secret," Tikki said, "and how if he's keeping his identity from us, there is probably a reason. I'm sure he'll tell you who he is when he's ready."

Marinette sighed, "maybe I should ask Master Fu about him."

"You know he won't tell you anything," Tikki said.

"Yeah," Marinette said, "but I want to ask him something else anyways." Marinette rolled out of her bed and walked over to her desk. She picked up her jacket and her bag, letting Tikki fly inside before closing. She walked over to the trapdoor in the floor and went to open it, but it sprung open before she even grabbed the handle.

Marinette jumped back in surprise, so far back that she hit her head on her desk.

"Oh, sorry girl," Alya said, peeping her head through the trapdoor, "I probably should've knocked."

"Probably," Marinette said, rubbing the back of her head, "you caught me off guard."

"Yeah," Alya said, stepping into the room and helping Marinette back onto her feet. Alya quickly scanned Marinette up and down, "where are you going?"

"How do you know I'm going somewhere," Marinette said.

"You have your bag," Alya said, "you only carry your bag with you when you're going somewhere because you're not sure if you'll need to transform or not."

Marinette laughed, "journalistic observation."

"More like I've known you for a long time," Alya said.

"I wanted to go see Fu," Marinette said, "I needed to ask him something."

"Anything important," Alya said, a mild bit of concern in her tone.

"No," Marinette said, "nothing to worry about, I just need to..."

"Good," Alya cut off, "that means it can wait, I have plans."

"What plans," Marinette said, "I don't remember having plans." She pulled out her phone and opened her calendar, "did I forget about something important? Was I in charge of anything? Did..."

"Relax girl," Alya said, "this wasn't exactly planned, it more or less came up and I thought you'd be interested."

"What is it," Marinette said.

"Some small music festival at Trocadero," Alya said, "a bunch of street performers and local vendors have set up there, I thought you might want to go."

"Can it wait," Marinette said.

"Only if you want to miss it," Alya said, "come on, Chloe and Adrien are already there, just come on."

Marinette hummed in thought, "alright, I'll talk with Fu later."

"Perfect," Alya said, grabbing Marinette by the wrist and dragging her along, "then come on girl."

Alya dragged Marinette down through the trapdoor, down the stairs, and out the door.

 **o0o**

Alya had described the it as a 'small' music festival, she was very much wrong. Not only had they taken over the park, but they had also taken over the street, the bridge, and even a little bit of the space under the Eiffel Tower. Marinette was actually in a little bit of awe by how big the festival.

"Alya," Marinette said as she looked around, "this is not small."

"Chloe and Adrien told me it was small," Alya said.

"They're rich Alya," Marinette said, "Chloe thinks that giant penthouse she lives in is small and Adrien thinks his teenagers dream room is nothing."

"It really is nothing," someone said behind them. Alya and Marinette spun around to see Chloe and Adrien. "You should see some of the other rooms in my house," Adrien continued, "the library is actually amazing."

"And I don't even have the biggest penthouse in the hotel," Chloe said, "mines not even top three, I only picked it because it had the most closet space."

"Rich people," Alya said. Both Adrien and Chloe laughed.

"So what is this for," Marinette said.

"It's a music festival," Adrien said, "the kind held purely for the sake of having a music festival."

"I think some rich guy decided to rent out the area to throw a festival all about music," Chloe said.

"Like I said," Alya mumbled, "rich people." everyone laughed this time.

"So it's a music festival," Marinette said, "where's the music?"

"All around," Adrien said, "there are performers everywhere, you just need to find one."

"What about over there," Alya said, pointing to a small stage with a large crowd around it, "looks like there's a performer over there."

"Looks like whoever it is they're performing for a bunch of kids," Chloe said, "probably some little kids singer."

"I watched a lot of those as a kid," Marinette said, "I still remember some of those songs."

"So I guess we know who we're going to listen to first," Alya said.

"It is the one closest to us," Chloe said, "might as well."

Everyone followed Marinette as they pushed through the crowd, trying to get to the front. There certainly was a lot of little kids in the crowd, but it made it easy to see who was on the stage.

"Alright everyone," Sam said. He was sitting on a stool in the center of the stage with an old retro microphone in front of him. Instead of his normal black electric guitar, he had an old beat up acoustic guitar.

"So this is a song by my favorite band back from my hometown... or rather homecity, of Chicago," Sam continued, "but I'll be honest, I haven't played it in a while so I need your help keeping time." Sam then started tapping his guitar with his pick, "come on, clap along." All of the kids started clapping their hands to the beat Sam was making with his pick.

"Perfect," Sam said, "just keep that beat up." He started strumming his guitar to the beat, " _when Rome's in ruins, we are the lions free of the Colosseum. In poison places, we are anti venom. We're the beginning of the end..._ "

"He's pretty good acoustic," Chloe said.

"Yeah," Adrien said. Marinette noticed Adrien recording Sam's performance on his phone.

"Why are you recording it," Marinette said, "he's your friend and can play the song for you anytime."

"Because he always has his whole cynical jerk act with most people," Adrien said, "and I'm sure the whole class would love to see him performing for a bunch of kids and letting that act drop."

"Be sure to send that to me," Alya said, "I'll make sure it's seen by all of Paris."

"Got it," Adrien said.

"I don't know how to feel about that," Chloe said.

Sam caught eye of them as he sung, given Adrien a glare as he recorded him, but not stopping the song, " _come on make it easy, say I never mattered, run it up the flagpole. We will teach you how to make boys next door out of scarecrows."_

"He is going to kill you," Chloe said.

"No he won't," Adrien said.

"Yes he will," all three of the girls said.

Sam never broke his glare at Adrien as he sung. "He may kill me," Adrien said, "luckily I have three superheroes to help me."

"I've seen Blackbird lay you out while you were transformed," Alya said, "and you're the one with combat training, what do you think we'll be able to do?"

Adrien thought for a moment, "he is going to kill me."

"Oh really," Chloe said, "what gave you that idea?"

"Thank you everyone," Sam said as he flung his guitar around onto his back, "I hope you enjoyed it, I now have to go meet up with a couple of friends of mine for the festival. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the festival."

"You want to start running now," Alya said, "or wait."

"I'll wait," Adrien said, "I kind of want to see what he'll do."

"Hey guys," Sam said as he walked up, "what are you guys doing here?"

"We came to enjoy the festival," Marinette said, "what are you doing here?"

Sam gave her a mildly confused look, "did you just ask a musician why he's at a music festival?"

"Right," Marinette said, looking down at the floor, "I guess that would make sense."

"But now on to more important matters," Sam said, turning to Adrien, "can I see the recording?"

"Why," Adrien said.

"I just wanna see how it came out," Sam said, "I don't actually get to see myself perform that often,"

"You're not mad," Adrien said.

"Nope," Sam said, "so can I see it?"

Adrien reluctantly handed his phone over to Sam. Sam looked through the phone until he found the video. "You know what," Sam said, "this isn't bad. But there is a something you need to know Adrien."

Adrien gave him a confused look, "what?"

"Never record me without asking," Sam said, "especially when I'm doing a show like this." he then handed the phone back to Adrien.

Adrien scrolled through his phone for a second before stopping and snapping up to look at Sam, "HEY!"

"What is it," Marinette said, looking at Adrien's phone.

"He deleted the recording," Adrien said.

"Always remember to ask Adrien," Sam said with a smile, "and be grateful. I was originally going to throw your phone into the water, but decided not to litter."

"Should I say thank you," Adrien said.

"You're welcome," Sam said sarcastically, "now can we get something to eat? I am starving."

 **o0o**

It took them a while, but the team eventually managed to find a booth that was selling pastries. They all bought something to eat and found a table to sit down at. They all sat in silence for a little bit as they ate, but Marinette finally broke the silence.

"So do you know who else is performing," she said.

"Absolutely no idea," Sam said, "I just kind of showed up, found an empty stage, and started playing."

"So it's just some kind of free for all," Chloe said.

"No," Sam said, "there's scheduled performances, I only said that I showed up and started playing."

"Sounds like something you'd do," Adrien said.

"Are you kidding," Sam said, "that was nothing, you should've seen some of the busks me and the band started back in Chicago."

"What's a busk," Chloe asked.

"Basically just a street performance," Sam said, "I guess that's your guy's word of the day."

"Really," Alya said, "because my calendar said it was claque."

Sam let out a light laugh before returning to his food.

"COME ONE COME ALL," a loud voice boomed as they ate. They turned to see a large crowd had started to gather around something, they couldn't see what due to said crowd. "COME TEST YOUR LUCK AND SEE IF YOU CAN BEAT THE DEALER," the voice continued

"What's that," Adrien said.

"Don't know," Marinette said, "but I do kind of want to see."

All of them, got up and pushed through the crowd. At the center, there was a small table with a man in a black suit sitting behind it. "Ah, more challengers come to test your luck," the man in the suit said as they walked up.

They all got a good look at the table, it had a jar full of euros on it and three cards spread across the center. "What exactly is this," Chloe said.

"Three card monte if I had to guess," Sam said, "a common street game."

"You got a good eye on you young man," the man in the suit said, "three car monte, otherwise known as find the lady, is rather simple." the man flipped over the three cards, the jack of spades, jack of clubs, and the queen of hearts, "basically, I'll flip these cards back over and shuffle them around, all you have to do is find the queen, and you win." He tapped the jar of euros, "5 euros to try, winner gets the pot. But so far no one has won."

"How much do you think is in there," Alya said.

"Enough to buy me some fancy fabrics to us in my designs," Marinette said. She reached into her bag and pulled out some euros, "I'll try." She dropped them in the jar.

"Alright young lady," the man said. He flipped the cards back over and started sliding them across the table, everyone watching them intently. He stopped and leaned onto his hand, "take your pick young lady."

Marinette looked at the cards and thought long and hard. "this one," she said, pointing to the card in the center. The dealer flipped it over, jack of clubs. "Aw," Marinette groaned.

"Here," Adrien said, "let me try, maybe I'll have better luck."

"Said the black cat," Alya mumbled under her breath.

"What was that," Adrien said.

"Nothing," Alya said, faking an innocent whistle.

Adrien rolled his eyes and dropped a couple euros in the jar. The dealer flipped the card over to show the queen and the two jacks, before flipping them back and shuffling them around the table. He stopped and gestured to the cards, signaling Adrien to pick. "This one," Adrien said, pointing at one of the cards. the dealer flipped it, jack of spades. "Dang it," Adrien said.

"Okay," Alya said, "I want to take a chance." She dropped a couple of euros into the jar. The dealer flipped them over, showed the cards again, flipped them back, and shuffled them. He signaled for Alya to pick and she did just as he requested, jack of diamonds. "Come on," Alya said.

"I want to give it a shot," Chloe said, reaching into her pockets. Sam grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"Hang on," he said, his normal cool expression replaced with a serious one, "let me try first." He dropped a couple euros of his own into the jar. The dealer flipped the cards to show them off, two jacks and a queen. He flipped them back, shuffled them around, and gestured to Sam. He didn't bother to pick instead thinking long and hard with his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

"What's the matter kid," the dealer said, "go on and guess which card it..."

"None of them," Sam cut off.

"W-what," the dealer said.

"None of the cards are the queen," Sam said. He then leaned over onto the table, "three card monte, often called find the lady, but it also has a third name, the three card trick." He slammed his hand onto the first card, lifting his hand up to show the card was gone, "you wouldn't think it by looking at me, but when I was young I actually had a fascination with magic..." He slammed his hand on the second card, making it disappear like the first, "and one of the first things I learned was palming, which quickly led to me learning the three card trick..." He slammed his hand onto the third card to make it disappear, "a common street game used to hustle the untrained eye. To be honest, you probably would've fooled me too, but you made on mistake..." he flicked his wrist to make all the cards reappear, the jack of spades, jack of clubs, and the jack of diamonds, "always make sure you use three of the same colored jack." He threw the cards at the table, all three of them sinking in like they were blades.

The crowd slowly shifted it tone. They went from interest, to confusion, to rage.

"He cheated," one man said.

"He scammed us," another woman said.

"Now now everybody," The dealer said, picking up the cards that Sam threw onto the table, "I-I can explain..." He slowly backed away as the crowd got closer to him. He then did the only thing he could do, he panicked, grabbed the jar of euros, and ran.

"Always hated scam artists like him," Sam said, "used to run into guys like him all the time back home." He then put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.

"You didn't have to do that," Chloe said.

"I didn't," Sam said, not turning around, "but the worst thing a person can do when they see an injustice is do nothing." He continued to walk away until he was out of their sight.

Chloe wanted to argue, but couldn't deny that he had a point.

"Just leave it," Marinette said, putting a hand on Chloe's shoulder, "he's too stubborn to think what he did was wrong."

"But he's also not wrong in saying it was right," Adrien added.

"No one won this round," Marinette said, "we got scammed, Sam embarassed our scammer, and now..."

"Now it's likely that our scammer is going to be less than happy with Sam," Alya finished, "we should probably find both of them before anything bad happens."

Everyone nodded in agreement and took off to find the two.

 **o0o**

The large aperture on the window opened to let the light into the large room, causing all the butterflies on the floor to ascend to the air. "A man who has made a fool of at his own game," Hawk Moth said, staring out the large window, "perhaps I should allow home to get revenge."

Hawk Moth took one of the butterflies and cupped it in his hands, filling the creature with dark energy. He removed one of his hands to let the small akuma take off into the air. "Fly my akuma," Hawk Moth said as he clicked his cane onto the ground, "and let this poor soul take back his victory."

The small black and purple insect flew out the window and over the Parisian skyline. It quickly found its latest target, holed up in an abandoned building in order to hide from the crowd that had chased after him. The small akuma landed on one of his cards, the jack of spades, and got absorbed into it.

"Hello Blackjack," Hawk Moth's voice rang in the dealers head, "I understand that you have been cheated of victory, how about I give you the chance for a rematch. All I ask for in return is that you bring me the miraculous." As he said so, the image of 5 jewels appeared in his head. "Do we have a deal?"

"I accept your challenge," he said. Starting from his card, his body was enveloped in black smoke.

 **o0o**

Sam was walking around the street festival, looking at all the booths selling various music items. He had seen some shirts from his favorite band, some nice picks that he wanted (not for his guitar, purely for a collectors sake), and even some nice accessories (figured he could have another bracelet besides his miraculous). It was a shame he wasted his budget for the day on food. He sighed and moved along, trying to keep his eyes on the floor as he walked so he didn't look at the booths.

"Maybe I should get a job,"Sam mumbled to himself.

"I thought you were a musician," Wayzz said from the comfort of Sam's inside jacket pocket, "does that not qualify as a profession?"

"Well it does," Sam said, "but because we were a small time band, we released our album for free online just to get it out there. Not to mention we never assumed we'd need money like this. We never really made money until I moved to Paris and managed to book us as an opening act and then as the band for the Halloween party, and even then it wasn't that much. At least not enough for me to fall back on."

"That was foolish," Wayzz said.

"I would prefer advice instead of criticism."

"Perhaps you should ask your sister, would she not have access to your fathers funds?"

"She won't help."

"Are you two not close?"

"We are," Sam grimaced, "but she won't lend me the money. Believe me, it's... long and complicated."

"I assume."

Sam let out a sigh, "let's just go home, I'm tired of looking at this stuff anyways."

"SAM." He spun around when he heard his name, Marinette was running to where he was. She ran up to him, slightly out of breath.

He looked down as she bent over her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Stand up straight," he said, "you're blocking your airway by bending over like that. And put your hands on your head, it helps clear it up."

Marinette did as she was instructed. allowing her to quickly catch her breath. "Are you ok," Marinette said once she finally caught her breath.

Sam looked at her with pure confusion, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because I think you upset that guy back there, and you now what happens when people get upset."

Sam sighed, "I know, but I couldn't let him get away with what he was doing, it was just wrong. Besides, I doubt Hawk Moth akumatizes every person who gets a little upset, it would be a waste of time and effort."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Sam and Marinette whipped around to see a man had taken over one of the larger stages that had been set up for performers.

He wore a red tail coat with black pants, black cuffs, and black shirt that had golden embroidery that resembled spades. He had skin that was glowing white with a mask resembling a butterfly over his face and a top hat with a red strap on his head. In his hand he held a golden scepter with a purple card on the end.

"You were saying," Marinette said, giving Sam an icy stare.

"I'm only human," Sam said, "I can be wrong."

"ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF," the akuma victim continued, "MY NAME IS BLACKJACK," He took a long bow, "AND I WOULD LIKE FOR ALL OF US TO PLAY A GAME!" Some people approached the stage out of curiosity, others backed away out of fear of the akuma victim. "SO WHO IS OUR FIRST CHALLENGER?" No one stepped forward for the offer. "THEN LET US LEAVE IT TO CHANCE."

He made a large gesture with his scepter sending four cards into the crowd, each one of them sinking into the ground. All four of the cards expanded into what looked like a purple glass box around one of the members of the crowd.

"OUR FIRST CHALLENGER," Blackjack announced, "WELCOME TO THE GAME!"

The crowd began to run away as Blackjack stepped forward and walked into his barrier to meet his challenger.

Sam stepped forward, but Marinette put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "What are you doing," Marinette said.

"We need to help that guy," Sam said.

"We _need_ to get you out of here," Marinette said, "because I'm pretty sure he's going to come after you next."

"but we can't leave him."

"Ladybug and the others can handle it when they get here, right now you need to get to safety."

The box slowly shrunk down, eventually all that was left was Blackjack and a small card. He took the card and put it into the card on his scepter. He then turned towards Sam and let out a crooked smile.

Sam let out a low growl, "I hate that you're right." He turned around, "fine, let's go."

Sam and Marinette turned to run. Each one had similar thought in their head, how can I get away from the other so that I can transform while still keeping them safe. Their best bet was hiding the other so that way they were safe.

Blackjack followed behind them as they ran, at least there was some distance between the heroes and the akuma. They ran as fast as they could, and kept moving until they were forced to a halt by Marinette tripping and falling to the floor. Sam spun around and tried to help her up, giving Blackjack enough time to catch up."

"Time for a rematch," Blackjack said as he spun his scepter.

"No thanks," Sam said, "I think I'll retire, guess that makes you the champion by default. Congratulations."

"We both know that's not how this is going to work."

"A guy can dream."

Blackjack repeated the large motion with his scepter and sent four more cards flying at Sam. He moved to shield Marinette, he didn't know what Blackjack's power was, but he certainly wasn't going to let her suffer for his mistakes. He was caught off guard when nothing happened. He looked around to see a familiar black cat spinning his staff to deflect the cards.

"You okay princess," Cat Noir said, lowering his staff.

"Good now that you're here," Marinette said.

"Yeah, I'm here too," Sam said, "in fact I'm probably in more danger than her, so why didn't you ask me if I was okay?"

Cat went a silent for a bit, Sam assumed that he was either going to try to come up with something witty or a legitimate excuse. Either way, Cat didn't say anything.

"A new challenger," Blackjack said, "so glad you could join the game."

Cat let out a sigh of relief that the akuma gave him an out from Sam's question, "I'm just happy to be here Jackie, but I am playing to win."

"Lame game show shtick," Rena Rouge said as she dropped nearby, kneeling down to check on Marinette and Sam.

"You two okay," Queen Bee said, dropping down to their other side.

"Well we were," Sam said, "but then you showed up, that tacky yellow is making me a bit nasueos."

"Excuse me," Queen said, mild irritation in her tone, "would you like to say that again?"

"Queen, please do not kill the guy we're trying to save," Cat said, "you two get them to safety, I'll hold off the akuma."

"Who put you in charge," Queen said, "I say we let them run and all fight the akuma to stop allow him to run."

"I've been doing this longer than you," Cat said, spinning his staff to block the cards, "so I am in charge when Ladybug isn't here. Now get them to safety."

"I know her better, I should be in charge."

"How do you know her better? I'm literally dating her."

"Is now the best time for this argument," Rena said, "civilian safety first."

Marinette leaned over to whisper in Queen's ear, "just get me away so that I can transform."

Queen Bee let out a groan, "alright. Rena, grab Mari... uh... grab the girl and get her away, I got the guy." Rena nodded and grabbed Marinette, Queen grabbed Sam. The two heroes ran off in opposite directions.

"Shouldn't we follow the fox," Sam said as Queen carried him to somewhere safe.

"I need to get you to safety," Queen said, "and I can think of a good spot to take you that he won't find you."

"If you want to keep me safe, then you should know there's strength in numbers."

She hated that he was right, but she couldn't tell him that she was getting him away from Marinette so she could transform into Paris' number one superhero. "Just trust me."

She came to a stop near an old abandoned building, opening the window and slipping inside. She set Sam on the ground so that he could walk around.

"An old abandoned warehouse," Sam said, "really?"

"It's a good spot to hide," Queen said.

"How can you defend a place like this. Is it your secret hideout or something?"

"What? No. Who would wan this place as a hideout?"

"I can think of a New York spider that wouldn't mind a place like this."

"Either way, we'll wait here until Ladybug and the others stop the akuma," Queen said, sitting down on the ground and crossing her legs.

"Hooray," Sam said, "I'm safe, now please leave."

"I was told to keep you safe," Queen said, "the akuma is trying to hunt you down, so if he manages to find you then you need protection."

"I can protect myself," Sam said, wanting to get away from Queen Bee so he could transform, but he also wanted to get away from the master of pretentious.

"Against an akuma?"

"No," Sam said, looking up in thought, "but remember, I did beat up your second in command while I was only wearing a hoodie. Does that count for something?"

"One," Queen said, "Cat is not our second in command."

"He bossed you around like he was," Sam said, giving a sly grin, "not to mention he's dating your boss."

"Two, beating Cat Noir isn't an accomplishment, I've seen Ladybug thrown him around like a rag doll... more than once. And Ladybug is not my boss... just the team leader."

"I feel like team leader qualifies as boss."

"Either way, you're staying here."

"I don't care about staying here, I care about you babysitting me."

"Protecting."

"Babysitting."

"Either way, I'm staying here to protect you."

"Can I at least trade out for the cat or the fox?"

"No, now sit down."

Sam grunted before sitting down. He had plenty of ideas running through his head, most of them violent, to get away from Queen Bee. He may not have got along with Bee, but she was still apart of the team and still his friend. He wasn't going to hurt her, no matter how tempted he was.

He still needed to get out of here though. It was his fault that there was an akuma, he had to at least help the others stop it. Ironically, in order to help his friends, he had to get away from one of the friends he was trying to help. He hated how the world was cruel like that.

"So how's it going," Queen said. Sam was so lost in thought he actually jumped at her breaking the silence.

"Well everything was going pretty good," Sam said, "played some music, hung out with out friends, heard some good music, but then an akuma came along and ended up getting picked up by you and taken to the shadiest looking abandoned warehouse I've ever been to."

"How many shady warehouses have you been to?"

"Only this one," Sam said with a smile, "but by default that makes it the shadiest one."

Queen let out a light laugh. She then went silent for a bit, "I honestly don't know what to do now."

"Well maybe you should let the turtle take over protecting me, he is the one with the shield. I'm sure he'll be here any minute, why don't you just leave and I'll wait for him to get here."

"I'm not going to leave you alone for any amount of time," Queen said as she crossed her arms, "although that muscle headed psycho might actually be better for protecting you."

Sam looked down and mumbled under his breath, "who are you calling a muscle headed psycho you egocentric mouth breather."

"You say something?"

"Nope."

Queen Bee flipped open her trompo to switch it to her comms. Sam could see that she was trying to call Jade Turtle, he had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to be able to get a hold of him.

"Great," Queen said, flipping her trompo closed.

"Maybe he's being held up," Sam said, "hanging out with some damsel."

"He may be an idiot, but he doesn't go flirting with every girl he sees. We have a cat for that, although he has gotten better."

"Maybe because he has a girlfriend?"

"Probably," Queen said, flopping down onto her back, "either way, I guess you're stuck with me."

"Alright," Sam said. He had at least one idea, "can I use the restroom?"

"I use that trick too," Queen said, not sitting up.

"What trick?"

"Saying you need to use the restroom so you can slip away, it's a pretty common trick."

"I wasn't going to do that."

"I would believe that if you weren't so adamant about getting away from me."

"What if I actually have to use the restroom?"

"Hold it."

Sam sighed. She was not letting him go, not easily at least. He was getting mildly annoyed by being stuck here. He hated being locked in one spot, just in general, an akuma was not making it better.

 **o0o**

"So what exactly are we dealing with," Rena said as she and Ladybug ran back to where they last saw Cat Noir fighting the akuma, "strength? Speed? Mind control? Please tell me it isn't mind control. I'm sick of mind control akumas."

"I'm not fully sure," Ladybug said, "I wasn't able to get a good look at what he was doing, but it looked like he was able to create walls of energy that he can walk through. He trapped someone inside a box of them, then when he shrunk it down the guy was gone. All that was left was a card."

Rena hummed in thought, "is it possible he turned the guy into a card?"

"I think it's safe to say that anything is possible when dealing with super villains possessed by magic butterflies."

"Fair point."

"So his power is card collecting, that doesn't explain the box that he creates."

"I think it would be safe to ask Cat when we catch up to him, he should know more since he's been fighting him longest."

"Shame we might not get the chance to ask him," Rena said as they came to a halt over where they last saw Cat Noir and the akuma. Now all that was there was a box of energy. "Please tell me that wasn't what the box you saw earlier looked like."

"I would," Ladybug said, "but then I'd be lying."

"Do you think cat is in there?"

"Most likely," Ladybug said with a sigh, "and we need to help him."

Both of them jumped from their vantage point down to where the box was. They could see Blackjack and Cat Noir inside.

"Cat Noir," Ladybug called out, no answer. They could't hear her from in there. She ran up to the box and put her hand against it, only for a powerful electric current to flow through her body and sent her flying back.

"LADYBUG," Rena said before running over and kneeling next to her friend on the ground, "are you okay?"

"I'll live," Ladybug said, pushing herself into a sitting position, "we're not getting in there. We're going to have to hope for the best for Cat."

They watched Cat Noir and the akuma as they stood in the box. It looked like they weren't fighting, in fact it seemed like they were standing there, talking.

"What do you think is happening in there," Ladybug said.

"I don't know," Rena said, "I assume this a part of Blackjack's powers."

"Talking," Ladybug said, "one of the more underwhelming powers we've dealt with."

"Wait and see," Rena said, "I assume there's more."

Rena was right. Three large tablets appeared in the air in between Cat Noir and Blackjack. Cat pointed to one of them, it spun around to reveal a giant spade on the other side. Blackjack let out an evil smile. The box slowly shrunk down, closing down on Cat Noir. It kept shrinking down with Cat inside, shrinking until all that was left was a black card floating in the air.

"CAT," Ladybug shouted out, Rena had to hold her back to stop her from charging forward at Blackjack.

Blackjack took the card and spun it in his hand. "What did you do to him," Ladybug said.

"Oh well that's simple," Blackjack said, still spinning the card, "we made a bet. If he won, he got my scepter. If I won..." He spun the card so they could see it, there was an image of Cat Noir on it, "then he joins my collection."

"You trapped him in the box," Rena said, "so he'd be forced to play the game, a game where you make the rules."

Blackjack laughed, "something like that." He took the card and brought it up to the card on his scepter, which absorbed it inside. "I'm sure you two would be a good addition to my collection as well."

Ladybug calmed down and stopped pulling against Rena, "we need to get the scepter without getting caught in his game."

"Otherwise we are just another card to him," Rena said, "easier said than done."

"Hold off on powers to, we should get a better idea what we're dealing with before we hit him with full force."

"Got it," Rena said, taking her flute and spinning it in her hand.

"If you two are done chatting," Blackjack said, "then what's say we let the game begin."

 **o0o**

Queen Bee let out a loud grunt before throwing her trompo while it was still in comms mode, "WHERE IS THAT STUPID SHELL HEAD?"

"Maybe he just doesn't want to answer your calls," Sam said, having found a place to lie down on a series of crates. He had started to settle in since Queen wasn't letting him go anytime soon, "from what I've seen, he doesn't exactly like you."

"Well I don't like him either," Queen said.

"What's wrong with him," Sam said, sitting up straight and turning to Queen, "I mean he can't be that bad."

"He's never called me by my name, in fact I don't think he's called anyone by their names. I'd be surprised if he even knows any of our names. He is always cocky and arrogant, never taking anything seriously. Not to mention his inability to be discrete, he once ruined a surprise attack on an akuma by literally announcing our arrival."

"None of that... is... horrible."

"No," Queen said, letting out a long sigh, "but he does act worse than he is. He is a great hero, but I feel like he constantly tries to prove something."

Sam mimicked her sigh, "maybe... he just wants to prove that he's a hero just like you guys."

"What are you talking about," Queen said, "of course he's a hero like us."

"Well... that's not exactly what I meant. Who knows, maybe he could've had some connection to you guys in civilian form, but you guys disapproved of what he was doing... maybe he wanted to prove to you that he was truly good enough to be a part of your team... Or... you know... I'm just looking to far into this."

"You probably are," Queen said, "then again, it is hard to do a psychological evaluation of someone you hardly know. I've been working with him a little while, and I don't even know him that well."

"Some people are just mysterious," Sam said. Both of them let out a mild laugh.

"I honestly don't hate him," Queen continued, "in fact I kind of enjoy the little rivalry we've developed."

Sam let out a large smile at the comment, almost going ear to ear, "really?"

"Yeah," Queen went on, "and if you ever tell him that, I can tell you there is no hero alive that can protect you from my wrath."

"My lips are sealed."

He didn't know what was more shocking, Queen opening up to him, or him opening up to Queen. He certainly didn't hate her, but he wasn't exactly her best friend. While he knew she didn't know that she was really telling all of this to Jade Turtle, but he knew fully well who he was talking to. Maybe he was just going crazy.

"So," Sam said, lying back down, "do you think it's safe to leave yet?"

"I haven't gotten any other calls," Queen said, "so I assume the akuma is still out there."

"Perfect, guess that means you still aren't letting me go."

"You're pretty good at guessing."

Sam sighed. As much as he was enjoying having a heart to heart with Queen, learning why they didn't get along was kind of nice, but he still had to help his other friends.

He kept looking around, trying to find a way to get out. He noticed a small window up near the ceiling. Too high to reach, even it wasn't it was too small to fit through, but it did give him one idea. He dug around the inner pockets of his jacket, looking for something he could use. Deck of cards, no. Pencil, no. Wayzz... maybe.

After a long winded search, he found something he could use. It was some big shiny stone that he had found that he intended to give to Ruby (he always messed with her by giving her rocks since, in his mind, her name was a rock).

He tossed it up and down in his hand, it certainly had some weight to it, perfect. He looked as Queen had walked over to pick up her comms and had started another attempt to call Jade Turtle.

While she was distracted, Sam threw the stone as hard as he could. The window burst with a loud shattering sound. Queen jumped at the sound, spinning to see Sam looking around in confusion.

"What was that," Sam said.

"I don't know," Queen said, flipping her trompo closed and prepping as if someone was going to attack.

"Maybe someone is outside," Sam said, "it could be the akuma."

Queen growled, "I'll check, you had better be here when I get back."

She jumped out of the large window that they had entered through. Once Queen Bee was out of sight, Sam ran over and hid behind some of the crates nearby. He lifted up his jacket and let the green Kwami fly out.

"What are you doing," Wayzz said.

"No time for explanations," Sam said, rolling up his sleeve to reveal his bracelet, "only time for action."

"WAYZZ, SHELL UP!"

In a bright green flash, the Jade Turtle suit materialized around Sam.

He stepped out of his hiding place to find Queen Bee had re-entered. "Hey there your majesty," Jade said.

Queen spun around. She looked happy for a second, but Jade could see her happiness fade. "Oh," Queen said, "it's you."

"You'd think that you'd be excited to see me," Jade said, "you've been calling me all day."

"Yeah," Queen said, "which begs the question, where were you?"

"I was being held up by some girl," Jade said, "we had actually had a good heart to heart."

"Well while you were with some girl, I had to protect someone from an akuma and now he ran off."

"Now why would anyone run away from you," Jade said with a sarcastic tone.

Queen let out a dry laugh, "can you act like a responsible human being for once."

"You lost the person you were trying to protect," Jade said, with a light smirk, "and you're calling me irresponsible."

"Well you could help me find him?"

"I could, or we could just go stop the akuma. If we stop him, then it doesn't matter if we find the kid because he won't be in danger."

"Well how about you find the kid and protect him, and I'll help the others."

Jade tilted his head in confusion, "why do I have to protect the kid?"

"Because you have the shield," Queen said, tapping his shield.

"I guess I'm saying the wrong thing. Instead of asking why I should stay here, I need to ask you to let me go."

"What... why?"

"I made a mistake," Jade said. "and I need to fix it."

"What did you do this time?"

"One," Jade said, putting a finger up to signify the number, "what do you mean this time, and two, I... can't say. It could give away who I am. Just let me go, I need to help."

Queen gave him a long stare, "does it matter what I say?"

"I wouldn't ask if it didn't."

She let out a long sigh, "you owe me one."

"Hold me to it," Jade said, "I promise I'll pay you back when you ask."

"You better, now get going. I have to go find our runaway."

"Good luck," Jade said. He turned and jumped out the window they had entered earlier, safely leaving the warehouse. "You're gonna need it," he mumbled once he was out of her earshot.

 **o0o**

Ladybug and Rena Rouge were not having an easy time with this akuma. They couldn't get close without risking getting sucked into his game. Ladybug didn't want to use her lucky charm, not yet at least. The area they were in didn't have much to work with. That hasn't stopped her before, but she didn't want to take the risk of wasting it and be put on a time limit.

"Got any plans," Rena said, jumping into the air to dodge some of Blackjack's cards.

"Not yet," Ladybug said, "you?"

"I think I might be able to get close," Rena said, "but I may have to use my power."

Ladybug thought for a minute, jumping in the air to dodge a card, "do it."

"ILLUSION!"

One Rena turned to seven and they all sprinted around Blackjack. Once Rena was certain that he had lost track of which one was real, she and her illusions charged from all directions. Blackjack merely laughed.

He spun and launched his cards into the floor, one on each side. They all expanded into one of his electric boxes around him, causing all the Rena's to collide with it in the air. The illusions vanished once they hit it, the real one was sent flying back and hit the floor hard.

"RENA," Ladybug shouted. She jumped over to where her friend was on the ground and kneeled besides her, "are you okay?"

"I think so," Rena said, pushing herself onto all fours.

"Game time." Both of them turned to see Blackjack standing over them. He prepped his scepter to throw his cards. Ladybug tried to help Rena up to move her but she couldn't get her friend onto her feet. Both of them instead looked at Blackjack, realizing they were just going to have to win his game.

As he made the large gesture with his scepter, a familiar green figure landed between them and Blackjack.

"'Sup Red," Jade said, blocking the cards with his shield, "am I late?"

"Right on time as usual," Ladybug said, "the akuma should be in his scepter, but watch out for those cards he's throwing. If they surround you, then you're locked in a game with him."

"A game huh," Jade said. He then let out a large smirk and stood up straight, lowering his shield. "So your power is you can challenge people to games," He went on, pointing dramatically at the akuma, "Well in that case, I challenge you."

"WHAT," Ladybug and Rena said in unison.

"Interesting," Blackjack said, lowering his scepter and putting his free hand to his chin, "And why would you do that?"

"A couple reasons," Jade said, "one, since I'm challenging you, I make the game."

Blackjack closed his eyes and hummed in thought, "I suppose that's fair."

"Two," Jade continued, "I doubt I'm gonna beat you through fighting, especially with that trick you pulled with Kit there."

"Kit," Rena said with obvious confusion.

"It's what you call a baby fox," Jade said, looking at her over his shoulder.

Rena rolled her eyes, "of course it is."

"And three, I need to make something right, part of that involves taking you out." Jade stretched his arms out in a 'are you not entertained' fashion, "so what do you say?"

Blackjack stared at Jade in silence for a long time, "very well." He spun his scepter in his hands, "what's the wager?"

"I thought that was obvious," Jade said. He pointed at the scepter, "I win, I get that shiny akumatized object that you love spinning around." He then put his shield on his back and tapped the bracelet on his wrist, "you win, then you get my bracelet."

"Okay," Ladybug said, grabbing Jade by the wrist, "I want a quick sidebar."

"Excuse us for just a moment," Jade said to the akuma over his shoulder as Ladybug dragged him off to the side.

"Take all the time you need," Blackjack said, "I'll be here when you're ready."

"What are you doing," Ladybug angrily whispered to him once they were away from the akuma.

"Stopping the bad guy," Jade said, "you know, like we always do."

"We normally don't play into their hands."

"Well this isn't normal. Kit is on a time limit, which leaves it to just you and me. Besides, I need to stop this guy, something personal."

"Like what?"

"Can't tell you Red, just trust me."

"Jade, I'd trust you with my life, just like I would with the rest of the team, but you can't use your miraculous as a bargaining chip."

"I can, but it's highly frowned upon."

"This is serious."

"And so am I," Jade said, his joking smile faded, "I screwed up today, this is my way to fix it. I'm doing this whether you like it or not. Might as well go along and make it easier."

After a long silence, Ladybug let out a long sigh, "if you screw this up, I will never let you live this down."

"If I screw this up, you're not allowed to let me live this down."

"Deal," Ladybug said, taking his hand and forcibly shaking it, "now don't screw this up."

Jade let out a smile, "I'm not known for screwing things up... often." He spun back around to see Blackjack looking at the ground spinning his scepter. "Okay amigo," Jade said, as he walked back up to the akuma, "let's play our little shadow game."

"Hey Ladybug," Rena whispered into her ear, "are you sure about this?"

"Not at all," Ladybug said, "but he's too stubborn to stop." Rena's necklace let out a loud beep for both of them to hear. "You had better run," Ladybug continued, "don't want Jade to bug you in civilian form."

Rena shuddered at thought, "alright. I'll catch up with you later."

Ladybug nodded and Rena ran off, jumping onto the rooftops to take her leave. Ladybug turned her full attention to Jade and the akuma.

"So what's your game," Blackjack said.

"Well first," Jade said, "we need a nice little arena. Would you care to do the honors?"

Blackjack laughed, "my pleasure." He made a large motion with his scepter, sending four cards flying around the two of them. They expanded to create a giant box around them.

"Perfect," Jade said, looking at the box around them. He could see Ladybug staring at him angrily from the sidelines, he could tell she knew that there was no chance of him escaping it now. To be fair, he was counting on that.

"So what is your game," Blackjack asked again.

"Simple," Jade said, taking his shield off his back, "if I can demonstrate?" Blackjack made a gesture for him to go on with his free hand. "Thanks," Jade said. He threw his shield against one of the walls, "this shield of mine is magic..." He caught it once it came back and threw it again, "no matter where I throw it, it ricochets and comes back to me..." He caught it again, "unless I cut of my shields connection to my miraculous, then it get's... a little funky." He threw his shield again, then covered his bracelet with his other hand. The shield hit the wall, but instead of coming back to Jade, it began ricocheting all over the cube, going completely haywire.

Blackjack stepped back to dodge the shield bouncing off the ground, "how does this relate to your game?"

"Well," Jade said, uncovering his bracelet and catching his shield,"I thought that was obvious. I'm going to throw my shield and cover my bracelet, and then we'll play ultimate keep away... or... I guess this would be stay away. First person to get hit... loses. Sound fair."

Blackjack closed his eyes and thought again, "interesting, but I should tell you, I'm not that acrobatic."

"I assumed," Jade continued, "which is why you get an added advantage of me not getting to use my hands, since I have to hold my bracelet."

Blackjack gave him a long stare, "fine, I accept the challenge."

"I thought you had already accepted it. You kind of made an arena and everything."

Blackjack laughed, "I guess you're right. Now let's start the game."

"Alright." Jade tossed his shield up and down repeatedly, "on the count on three." He tossed his shield in the air again, "one."

"Two," Blackjack said, going into a low stance.

"THREE," the two said in unison. Jade caught his shield and threw it at the ceiling, covering his wrist immediately after.

The shield went all over the place, bouncing off the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Jade and Blackjack both moved around, trying to dodge as much as they could. If there was one thing that Jade had not anticipated, it was that his shield was hard to dodge. Especially without his hands, he wasn't able to do some of the same tricks he normally did without them. At the very least, he could see that Blackjack was having the same troubles. All they could do is strafe and duck.

As the competition went on, the seemed to get faster and faster. It's momentum kept building up as it ricocheted all over the place. It eventually got to the point where both of the competitors could barely even see the shield only catching glimpses of it flying by as they moved around.

It went from legitimately dodging, to moving around like idiots and hoping they didn't get hit. Sometimes, they were pretty sure that the shield had disappeared because it was moving so fast that it was hard to see.

Eventually, it seemed like it was almost over. Blackjack could see that the shield was flying in a way that it would ricochet off the wall and hit Jade in the back without him seeing. Blackjack simply stood triumphantly as the shield flew behind Jade. Once the shield hit the wall, Jade back flipped into the air and flew over the shield. He landed on the floor with a thud, not being able to use his hands made it hard for him to back flip properly, but he did what I needed to. The shield flew past him and hit Blackjack hard in the chest.

His scepter went flying in the air, Jade jumped to catch it. The walls faded around him faded away, the game was over.

"Catch Red," he said, throwing the scepter to Ladybug.

She caught it and snapped it over her knee, releasing the akuma that was inside. She opened her yo-yo and caught the small butterfly inside, releasing it in it's original white form, "bye bye little butterfly."

She threw her yo-yo into the air, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" A swarm of butterflies appeared from it and restored the damage that they had caused and returning those that Blackjack had captured, starting with Cat Noir.

"What happened," Cat Noir said as he emerged from the butterfly swarm, "where am I?"

"Pound it," Jade said, outstretching his arm, but Ladybug ran past him and hugged Cat Noir. Jade merely smiled as he watched Ladybug squeeze Cat like it was the last time she was ever going to see him. "Well I guess my work is done."

"Wait," Ladybug said, "that was amazing. I guess you were right to be confident in taking on the akuma."

"Well I did have a trick up my sleeve," Jade said.

"Like what," Cat said.

"A magician never reveals his secrets," Jade said. Once he finished his sentence, his miraculous beeped. Jade sighed, 'but I guess that sometimes the magicians tools can reveal his secret."

"You used your power," Ladybug said, "that's how you were able to make that last dodge."

"I didn't say there was a rule against it," Jade said, "now I got to run before I run out of juice. See ya." He started walking away, but looked at them over her shoulder, "by the way, be sure to call Stripes and tell her that we stopped the akuma... or don't, it could be funny to have her looking around all day."

"We'll call her," Ladybug said.

"Awe," Jade said. He ran off and jumped off into the distance

"So I think it's safe to say that the festival is over," Cat said, putting his hands behind his head.

"In that case, I had plans before the festival," Ladybug said, "I'll catch up with you later."

"What," Cat said, "am I not allowed to be a part of your plans?"

"Do you want another long winded explanation from Fu?"

Cat looked up, "nah, I much rather have to listen to Plagg complain to me about cheese."

"Suit yourself," Ladybug said. She threw her yo-yo, "also, be sure to call Bee." She then was pulled by her yo-yo and zipped through the air.

Chat took his staff off his belt and flipped open the comms, "... eh, she'll figure it out eventually." He flipped his staff closed and extended it to vault to the rooftops.

 **o0o**

Master Fu had already started pouring tea, it was always his favorite way to prepare for guests. As he poured the second cup, a gentle knocking was heard from his door. He walked over and opened it, "Ah, Marinette. It is good to see you again. Would you like some tea?"

"I would," Marinette said as she walked in, "I see that you're prepared for my arrival as always."

"I see that you're no longer surprised by it."

"Alya told me that she tells you when I'm coming."

"And ruining all my fun," Fu said, walking back over to the low table he always set up for this situation, taking a seat at one of the cushions on the floor on one side. Marinette sat on the other side. "So I assume you are here to talk about Jade Turtle," Fu said, handing her a cup of tea.

"Alya really told you everything," Marinette said, taking the cu and taking a gentle sip.

"Actually, I was expecting you to come to talk about him eventually. I'm surprised it took you so long."

"I was debating whether I should or not. I knew you wouldn't tell me who he is, Tikki was very adamant about that."

"I have known him longer than you," Tikki said, fluttering out from her hiding spot.

"I have kept your miraculous safe since I was young," Fu said with a smile.

"Anyways," Marinette continued, "I did have another question."

"I will answer it as much as I can," Fu said.

"Then I need to know, why did you give him your miraculous?"

Fu went silent for a minute before letting out a long sigh, "Marinette, I am an old man. Hawk Moth has gotten desperate. His akumas are more dangerous. You needed more help, help I could not personally provide."

He got up and walked over to his old gramophone, pressing the eyes on the dragons and inputting the code to make the large black and red box slowly rise out of it's hiding place He brought the box over to the table and set it down between them, "I also needed something else, another guardian."

Marinette looked down at her cup, "what do you mean?"

"It is like I said," Fu continued with a laugh, "I am old. I needed someone who could protect the miraculous in my place, for I will not be here forever."

"So you picked found the next guardian, found someone like us?'

"Not like you. Not like your friends. While with you, I picked people who showed that they could be good when they didn't need to. People who had the heart and soul of heroes, and it helped that all of you were close. But with my new guardian, it was different."

Marinette set her cup down and looked at Fu, "different how?"

"I needed someone who was already skilled, but could still show potential. I did not think I could find someone like that, but miraculously, no pun intended, someone I showed up. I found someone that could rival some akumas without the use of powers. As for potential, from what I saw, he could learn advanced skills in days, languages in weeks, and all with limited resources."

"That's amazing."

"I picked him for a reason," Fu said with a smile, "he may seem reckless, one who doesn't know the line between seriousness and jokes, but he is a great asset to you and your team. One day, he will be the guardian that I see in him."

"You haven't been wrong yet," Marinette said, "I doubt you ever will be."

Fu laughed, "let us hope not. We can not afford it."

"Thank you Master," Marinette said, standing up and taking a light bow.

"It was my pleasure," Fu said with a smile, "I am always here to help." Marinette gave him a gentle smile before waving goodbye and taking her leave. "I hope that he is able to guard you and the miraculous since I can not."

 **END**

 **EDITOR'S NOTE:**

Would anyone care if I change the rating, make it at least a T. i simply want to know because the next chapters I have in mind involve a lot of angst and family issues involving Sam, so I feel like I should change it, but I didn't want to without asking the audience. Anyway that's it for now, I'll have the next chapter out sometime after the next chapter of Amazing Spider-Man. Until then, stay miraculous (wow, that was cheesy).


	11. Origin: Ladybug and Cat Noir

**EDITOR'S NOTE:**

Ever wonder how the team got to the point where it's at. Well this is a bit of filler to help with that. A little more detail into how Marinette and Adrien got together. Also I should point out that I'm going to bring up things that have happened in season 2 of the show, so if you haven't had a chance to watch it, I'd recommend waiting to read this. Unless you don't care, in which case, neither do I.

 **ORIGIN: LADYBUG AND CAT NOIR**

It was quiet. Cat Noir couldn't hear a single voice on the streets, no cars driving by. He was certain that no one was around, but he couldn't look around to confirm that. He had his eyes closed at the moment, so he couldn't see anything, but he had to keep them closed. He had to for her.

To make a long story short, Ladybug and Cat Noir were fighting an akuma named Dream Eater. He was knocking people unconscious with some magic dust, taking all their good dreams, and replacing them with nightmares. Most of Paris was asleep when the two heroes finally showed up.

Cat had grown to hate akumas that use dust or smoke or stuff like that, it's hard to dodge and fits between the smallest cracks. He remembered being possessed by Princess Fragrance just because of a small crack in the window, and Ladybug never filled him in on everything that happened during that attack except that he has a great singing voice.

But that was far from the point. Anyways, Dream Eater was knocking people unconscious and was slowly taking control of Paris. Once Ladybug and Cat Noir were on the scene, things didn't exactly get better. Dream Eater flooded the area around him with his dust. While Cat used his staff to get above it before it reaches them, Ladybug wasn't so lucky. She ended up getting caught right in the middle.

She ended up being extremely tired and could barely stand. Dream Eater made a quick retreat, and Ladybug and Cat Noir regrouped and filled Ladybug with as much caffeine as they could so she could at least stay awake long enough to purify the akuma.

On their second encounter, the heroes managed to defeat Dream Eater. Ladybug used her lucky charm to make a giant fan that blew away all the dust, allowing them to grab the object, crack it, and purify the akuma.

Cat thought that was the end of it, but black cats were never that lucky. As soon as the akuma was purified, all the people woke up, and Ladybug crashed from all the caffeine in her system. She was unconscious with her clock ticking down, so Cat did the only thing he could think to do. He picked up his lady, and he carried her onto the roof tops.

He wanted to find a nice place to leave her, somewhere that no one could ever see her transform back when her miraculous ran out of power. His ultimate plan was to take her back to his house and slip her in through his bedroom window, but Ladybug had been to his house before so that could compromise his identity. He had to find somewhere that he could leave her to wake up, but before he could do that, the last spot in her earrings disappeared. He had a split second to react, so he did the only thing he could think of. He stopped running and shut his eyes.

So now he was stuck in this position. He was on top of some random Paris rooftop, holding the love of his life in his arms. He wanted to open his eyes and look at her, but he knew that's not what she would want. He would rather not know than betray the trust of his best friend. He would keep his eyes shut.

"Cat Noir," a tiny voice said, it was rather adorable.

"My lady," Cat said with a small amount of excitement, "are you awake? You sound different."

"No Adrien," the small voice said, "my name is Tikki, I'm Ladybug's Kwami."

"Oh, hello Tikki," Cat said, he was a little disappointed, "you know me?"

"I saw you back when we fought Dark Owl, remember?" Ladybug was de-transformed in front of him and he had to keep his eyes closed the whole time, how could he forget. "I had no problem recognizing someone who's face is on every billboard in Paris."

"Ah," Cat said, "well then, I don't suppose you'll be needing any cheese?"

"I don't personally like cheese, that's just Plagg. I have a bit of a sweet tooth myself. Besides, even if I could recharge, Ladybug can't use her powers at the moment because..."

"Because she's asleep in my arms," Cat said, "and she can't transform because she can't use her call out phrase, and I'm out of food anyways."

"Plagg always did have a tendency to eat everything in sight," Tikki said.

"Do you have any ideas," Cat said, "aside from my jokes, I'm not one for creative thinking. I normally leave that to Ladybug."

Tikki thought for a minute, "you can't leave her here, it would be too dangerous."

"Not to mention she could get sun burnt if I was to leave her on the rooftop like this."

"I thought that you weren't one for creative thinking."

"And I also said aside from my jokes."

"This is not a time for jokes," Tikki said, her tone was reminiscent of a stern mother's. It certainly shut him up.

"Well then, maybe we can just wait until she wakes up."

"We don't know how long that could be. She could be asleep for a couple minutes, she could be asleep for hours. If we just sit here, eventually someone will come along and ask questions, starting with 'why is Cat Noir just standing around with his eyes closed holding an unconscious girl?' After today's events, they'll probably figure that out very quickly."

"Why would someone be on a rooftop?"

"Actually, you stopped in the middle of a balcony, a rather beautiful one that looks like it is well tended to. I assume that someone will eventually come tend to it. ."

 _Of course I did,_ Cat thought to himself, _just my luck._ "So what do you suggest then?"

Tikki hummed in thought for a long time, "I'm afraid we have no choice."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Adrien," Tikki said in a very soft tone, "please, open your eyes."

"WHAT!"

"She trusts you more than anyone else," Tikki said, "and I feel like it's the only way you can protect her at the..."

"I can't," Cat said, "I promised her that we'd keep our identities secret. As much as I want to know, as much as I was tempted to find out when we fought Dark Owl and Evillustrator, I can't. We swore that we'd protect each other's identities, even from each other."

"I know," Tikki said, her voice a bit disheartened, "I was the one who told her to keep your identities secret at all cost, experiences with past Ladybugs and Cat Noirs left us with no choice, but any other option would be too dangerous."

"But... but I can't," Cat said. He had spent so much time helping to protect her identity, even protecting it from himself. He had imagined her revealing who she was to him, but on her terms, when they were both ready. He never even imagined finding like this, he never _wanted_ to find out like this. "Ladybug trusts me, I can't betray her like this."

"Adrien," Tikki said softly, "I know, but we have to get her to safety. We can't just leave her anywhere." He really hated that the kwami was right. "It's all up to you Adrien, I can't force your hand on this."

Cat let out a long sigh, "alright. For Ladybug." He hesitated for a second, but then slowly opened his eyes. He had them shut for so long that the brightness blinded him for a second. He had to blink a bit to let his eyes adjust. When he could finally see again, he was able to take in his full surroundings.

Tikki was right, he was on a nice balcony that was covered in flowers. Whoever lived here clearly took constant care of these, but that's not what he was focusing on. He then noticed the small red and black kwami flying in front of him, but that wasn't what he was focusing on that either. What he was focusing on was the girl in his arms, more specifically, just how familiar she was.

He had to run through every detail just to make sure he was right. Dark hair, check. Pink jeans with the ends rolled up, check. Gray blazer with the sleeves rolled up, check. Light pink flats, check. White shirt with pink flowers, Check. And he was certain that if she wasn't sleeping, he would be able to see those beautiful bluebell eyes. There was no doubt about it, he was holding Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He always assumed Ladybug was someone that he knew, the textbook that Ladybug dropped a while back made him think as much, but he never once assumed it could be the girl that sat behind him in class. As he looked at her, he was able to make more and more comparisons, ones that he was surprised that he didn't notice sooner. Although, they somehow seemed different at the same time. Perhaps this was part of the miraculous' magic?

As he thought more about it, it seemed to make sense. Both Ladybug and Marinette did seem to have similar qualities, be it the way that she stood up for other people or her general dislike of Chloe Bourgeois. As he thought about there similarities, he honestly felt surprised that he didn't figure it out sooner.

"Adrien," Tikki said snapping Cat off his train of thought, "we need to get Marinette home." Cat stared at the girl in her arms for a minute before giving Tikki a small nod.

 **o0o**

It didn't take long to get to Boulangerie Patisserie. Once Cat Noir knew where to take his friend, he had no trouble getting there. He had been to the bakery so many times that he could find his way there from anywhere in Paris. He quickly made his way and landed on the small balcony that held Marinette's garden. He open the latch with his foot and dropped down onto the mattress below.

"Home safely my lady," Cat said as he laid Marinette down on her bed.

"Thank you Adrien," Tikki said, "I'm sure Marinette will be grateful for how you protected her, and for how you wanted to respect her identity."

"Yeah," Cat said with a long sigh. He had to think for a moment, today had been a bit of an interesting one. He figured today was going to be another routine akuma, they would just show up and defeat it like always. He never expected this when he woke up this morning, how could he?

"How long do you think it'll be before she wakes up," Cat asked with mild concern.

"I don't know," Tikki said as she fluttered around Marinette's head, "She is known for sleeping in. This not magic either, this is human limitations. All I can tell you is that she'll be fine."

"That's good to hear," Cat said, sitting down on the end of the bed and crossing his legs. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm his nerves, his stomach was in knots from this experience.

He decided to focus on something else, so he looked around the room. It was a little different from the last time that he was here. Mainly, Marinette had a lot of pictures of him from all of his photo shoots pinned to the wall. _Marinette is a fashion designer,_ Cat thought to himself, _maybe she's a fan of my fathers work. Maybe I can introduce her in person sometime._

"Are you okay Adrien," Tikki said, snapping Cat back to reality.

"Yeah," Cat said, "I think I'll be fine." He thought for a long time, "hey Tikki."

Tikki looked at him with those big blue eyes, "What is it?"

"When she wakes up," Cat said as he twiddled his thumbs, "can... can you not tell her that I know?"

Tikki looked confused, "why not? She deserves to..."

"Yes, she should know, but I feel like... it's just that... I want to tell her." Tikki tilted her head a bit. "I know it sounds weird, but I just feel like I need to be the one that tells her. I can't exactly explain it but..."

"I get it Adrien," Tikki said, her tone sounding very motherly, "I've been around a long time, I've experienced similar situations. If you want to tell her, then you can."

Cat let out a small smile, "thanks Tikki." He got up to his feet and stretched his back, "Well, I had better be going."

"I thought you wanted to tell her?"

"I do, but I'm sure that when she wakes up she doesn't want to see some alley cat in her bed, especially not one with bad news. Besides, I need to figure out what I need to say, but I'm sure that'll be easy. I'll have plenty of time to think about that as I scream into a pillow for two hours."

Tikki let out a tiny giggle, "alright, take your time, but you do need to tell her."

"And I will," Cat said, "once I figure out what I'm going to tell her." He climbed back up to the hatch leading up to the balcony, "I'll see you soon Tikki."

"I look forward to it," Tikki said with a smile as Cat Noir slipped out of the room.

 **o0o**

Adrien was wrong about two things. One, coming up with what he needed to say was not easy. Two, he didn't scream into the pillow for two hours... he screamed for four.

"I don't get what the big deal is kid," Plagg said as he munched on a bit of Camembert, "you finally know who the girl behind the mask is, you even already know the girl. You should be celebrating. How's some cheese sound."

"You don't get it Plagg," Adrien said as he rolled in his bad so that he was on his back, stretching out his arms, "I didn't want to know because she didn't want me to know. This could completely change how she trusts me, change our friendship forever."

"What's the big deal," Plagg said, "you like the Ladybug, you also like the baker girl. It so happens that they are the same person, and that person happens to like you too."

"Marinette is a great friend," Adrien said (his own awareness escaping him), "and so is Ladybug, but now I don't know what to do now that I know that they're the same."

"Well for starters, tell her that you know. Mostly because you told Tikki that you would. Believe me kid, me and Tikki go back a long ways, and you don't watn to see her when she's angry."

"Oh please, how dangerous can a Kwami be?"

"I've had several chosen ask that same question, they all learned the answer the hard way."

"I'll take your word for it. Don't worry, I will tell her, just as soon as I figure out the best way I can tell her."

"Just say 'hey Mari, I know you're Ladybug and I'm Cat Noir, wanna see a movie?' What's the worse that can happen?"

"A lot of things," Adrien said as he sprung up in his bed to look at Plagg, "what if I screw up and say the wrong things, I could lose two of my closest friends by talking to one person. And what if she doesn't think that she can trust me anymore, I did break the one rule we have about identities. And what if she doesn't like me, she always seems to get really nervous whenever I get near her despite always being so calm and collected with everyone else. I think that I scare her."

"Kid... you really are clueless."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll understand when you're older," Plagg said with a snicker.

"Some help you are," Adrien said as he plopped back down, "you've had since we fought Dark Owl to come up with something that can help me, but I don't know what I expected from you."

"probably good advice and a shoulder to lean on, shame my shoulders are too small for you to lean on them."

Adrien ignored Plagg and let out a long sigh, "what... what if she's upset that it's me? What if she's upset that I'm Cat Noir? what if I screw this up so badly that it ruins our partnership completely? There's a possibility that she may never want to see me again if I do the wrong things. She could end up hating me and then wanting a different partner and then taking my ring to give it to someone else and then I wouldn't be able to face her so I'd have to go back to being home schooled and..."

"Alright kid, I get it," Plagg said as he flew up to Adrien and held his lips closed, "take a breath, after talking like that I'm surprised that you still have any air left. Listen Adrien, all you need to do is talk to her. Slowly and calmly explain the situation that happened today so there's no room for misinterpretation. Once it's all done, she'll make her decision from there. If you only focus on the bad, then you won't be able to see the good."

Adrien stopped for a moment, "did... did you just give me good advice."

"Actually, that was something Tikki said once. I figured it would apply to the situation."

Adrien rolled his eyes, "at least I know one Kwami that can give good advice."

"Hey!"

Adrien rolled out of his bed and walked over to his computer, "alright, now that I'm done screaming into a pillow, I can finally figure out what I'm going to say to Marinette tomorrow."

"I still think what I recommended is pretty good," Plagg said as he gulped down another piece of Camembert.

"Duly noted," Adrien said as he pulled open a word document and started typing down what came to mind.

 **o0o**

He had to have spent all night working on what he was going to say to Marinette. It became an endless cycle, he would type something, determine that Mari would hate it, delete it, rinse and repeat. It took him at least four hours to just finish writing out what he was going to say, the rest of the night was spent rehearsing it so that it came off naturally in a way that she would like. He had to take several breaks just to scream some more, and several more just to get away from Plagg. There were points were as he was reading it, he would completely hate a certain line and then change it. It wasn't until he finally had it how he liked it, had rehearsed it to the point where he could recite it word for word without looking at what he typed, and he was able to make it sound like it was completely natural that he finally decided to get some sleep. As he laid down in his bed and began to shut his eyes, the alarm went off signaling him that it was time to get ready for school.

"Adrien," Nathalie said from outside the door, "hurry up and get ready, you're going to be late."

Adrien groaned and rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom. "Maybe I should take the day off," Adrien said as he started combing his hair, "it can't hurt to miss one day of school. Plus it'll give me some more time to think about what I want to say."

"Kid," Plagg said, "you have spent literal hours trying to figure this out. If I have to hear this stupid speech of yours one more time, I'm gonna go crazy. Besides, you need to tell her or you will face the wrath of Tikki."

"I still don't get what's so scary about Tikki," Adrien said as he grabbed his toothbrush, "what can she do to me?"

"Stare at you... very disappointingly."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Believe me, it's horrible. When she looks at you with disappointment, it feels like the whole universe is looking down on you." Adrien thought for a moment, then shuddered at the thought. "Exactly."

Adrien spit out his toothpaste into the sink and rinsed his mouth, "alright, I'll go to school." He let out a long sigh, "I'm still not sure I'm ready to talk to her. What if I screw up?"

"Kid, with how much you practiced, I honestly don't think that there is a way for you to screw this up."

"You say that now," Adrien said as he took a long stare at his reflection, "but... we're just going to have to cross that bridge when we reach it."

 **o0o**

His school day started like any other. The gorilla drove him to school, he got out, Chloe barraged him with hugs, Nino pried her off, and they went to class. They took their seats and waited for class to start. Alya was next to come in after them, taking her seat behind Nino.

"Hey Alya," Adrien said, turning in his seat to see her, "where's Marinette?"

"Knowing her," Alya said, "she probably hasn't even woken up yet, but the better question is why are you so interested all of a sudden?"

"Oh...I..." Adrien could feel his face heat up as he stumbled over his words. Why was he getting all blushy about this now? "I... just needed to talk with her."

Alya let out a smug smile, "thanks Agreste, you just told me everything I need to know."

Before Adrien could even ask what she meant by that. Ms. Bustier stepped into class and quieted everyone down.

Class ran quietly for a long time, everyone paying close attention to the lesson and silently taking notes (except for Chloe who was doing her nails as Sabrina took down the notes for the both of them). It wasn't until around twenty minutes into class that Marinette finally showed up. She tried to slip into class undetected, but ended up tripping on her way to her seat and made a large clatter.

"Ms. Dupain-Cheng," Ms. Bustier said as she turned around to face the class, seeing Alya helping Marinette back onto her feet, "late again I see. Care to explain?"

"I'm really, very sorry miss," Marinette said as she rubbed the back of her head, "it's just... I... I overslept."

"No excuses today," Ms. Bustier said, "I guess that is improvement. Take you're seat and collect the notes that you missed from Ms. Cesaire."

"Yes ma'am," Marinette said before taking her seat.

Adrien smiled at her as she walked by him, making her duck away so that he couldn't see her face. _Yeah,_ Adrien thought to himself, _I definitely scare her._

Alya and Marinette took their seats behind him and Nino. He could hear the two of them whispering behind him, but he couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. How much he would kill to have his enhanced hearing at the moment, he wanted to hear every single word of what Marinette had to say. Of what his lady had to say.

 _No,_ Adrien thought to himself, _I shouldn't think like that._ S _he's still Marinette. Just because she's also Ladybug doesn't mean that I should treat her any differently. She's my friend, first and foremost, I won't let any fact change that. Her friendship comes before my love._

"You okay dude," Nino said as he looked at Adrien, "you look like your head is about to pop."

Adrien shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts, "yeah, I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind recently."

"Like what," Nino said.

Adrien picked his words carefully, "just a problem with a... someone I work with. You know the whole thing with those strict schedules and all that, driving us crazy." He wasn't technically lying. He did work with Ladybug and they did have a schedule for patrols.

"Maybe you should see if you can get a break," Nino said, "take a day just to relax."

"Yeah," Adrien said, "I'll try to do that, but right now... I actually have something more important to do today."

"Ooh," Nino said leaning in with interest, "and what might that be?"

Adrien let out a small laugh, "sorry Nino, but I'm afraid that it's a personal thing."

"Aw," Nino said, "That's disappointing."

A loud clearing of the throat interrupted them. All of their attention turned towards the sound, which came from Ms. Bustier who was standing over them. "I believe we've already had enough interruptions you two," She said as she looked down on the two of them, "I would prefer if I could teach my class and actually have my students pay attention."

"Yes ma'am," Adrien and Nino said in unison.

She turned back to the board and began her lesson again. There was no more conversation from anyone for the rest of the class, everyone figured it would simply be better if they avoided making Ms. Bustier angry. Only an idiot would go out of his way to constantly make a teacher angry, and eve then there's no way that there was someone that stupid in the world.

Adrien constantly tapped is foot and stared at the clock as time went on. He wanted to be out of class so that he could talk to Marinette, he needed to tell her everything. It was the worst classes of his life, they never seemed to end. He just needed to get to lunch break and then he'd be able to take Marinette to some cafe where they'd be able get away from everyone, get away and talk. He ran through everything in his head, making sure that there was absolutely no way that he could screw this up.

Finally, the bell rang. Everyone got up and left, but Adrien stayed. He had gotten so lost in thought as he ran through the words he had planned to say. Finally, he got snapped out of his train of thought by someone tapping on his shoulder.

"E-excuse me," someone said. Adrien sprung back into reality and looked at who was talking to him, looking straight into her bluebell eyes.

"M-Marinette," Adrien stuttered as he looked at her.

"H-hi," She said, "I saw you sitting alone, a-and I wanted to be with you. I MEan,I NEED YOU IN MY LIFE... I MEAN, I THOUGHT YOU COULD USE SOME COMPANY!" She let out another long sigh.

 _Yeah,_ Adrien thought to himself, _I definitely make her uncomfortable._ "Yeah," Adrien said, "I wouldn't mind talking for a bit."

"I-I can talk," Marinette said, "I mean of course I can talk, we can all talk, I mean we can talk with each other."

"Y-yeah," Adrien said. He stood up and looked down on Marinette, "I needed to talk to you actually. I needed... I needed to say..." His words were escaping him. Everything that he had planned out had disappeared from his head, he was drawing a blank slate completely. Now that he was standing face to face in front of his lady, looking at her without their masks, and he couldn't say anything.

He was looking at her, looking at her and seeing everything that he liked about her. He saw her brave nature, he saw her creative mind, he saw her as a gamer, he saw her as a designer. He quickly realized he wasn't thinking about everything that made her so great as Ladybug, he saw all the things he thought were great about her as Marinette. He had always saw Marinette as just a friend because he told himself that his feelings for Ladybug were stronger, but he was lying to himself. He loved both of them, and it turned out that they were the same person. He couldn't handle it.

Marinette was saying something, but Adrien couldn't make out the words. He was too busy choking on his words, choking on his thoughts to be able to process any of it. His eyes began to well up. "I... I'm sorry," Adrien forced out, barely able to come up with words, "but I can't be near you." Before Marinette could say anything, Adrien burst out the door.

 **o0o**

After the lunch break, Adrien didn't return to school. He hid in his room and curled up onto his bed. He was in a bad spot now, he screwed up horribly. After all that planning, all that preparing, he screwed up and all that he could say was 'I can't be near you.' He panicked, and that was all he could force out.

"I screwed up Plagg," Adrien said as he sat on his bed, "I screwed up bad."

"Oh come on kid," Plagg said as he flew over his head, "it wasn't that bad."

"I literally ran away from her. I was right in front of her, all I had to do was talk to her, and I ran away."

"Okay," Plagg said, "it's a little bad, but I doubt it's past recovery."

"How is it not past recovery," Adrien said, "Let's face it, I screwed up horribly, just like I knew I was going to do."

"But you can still recover," Plagg said, "just collect your thoughts, prepare for it, and then you can try again."

"What's the point. I can't talk to her, I'm just going to mess it up again. I may as well just wait here, try to avoid her. The school year ends in a couple of weeks, I can avoid her until then. Then I can change schools, only see her during akuma attacks. Keep everything professional from here on out."

"Listen kid, you can't avoid her forever. You need to eventually tell her that you know, it's not fair to her."

"But I can't even talk to her. I kinda need to be able to talk to her in order to tell her. What's your plan then?"

Plagg thought for a moment, "you always seem so calm and collected as Cat Noir, why can't you just be like that when you talk to her?"

"I don't know. When I'm Cat Noir, I'm more myself. I'm able to be more of a joker and let loose."

"Okay," Plagg said, "Then the answer is simple all you need to do to talk to her is be more like Cat Noir. Then you'll be more comfortable in your own skin and then you'll be able to talk to her naturally. Then you'll tell her everything and then you guys go back to normal."

Adrien looked up at his Kwami, "that's... that's not a bad idea actually."

"Of course," Plagg said with a proud smile, "just go talk to her with that signature cat charm and you'll knock her dead."

"Yeah," Adrien said with excitement, hopping out of his bed, "plus Mari isn't as nervous around Cat Noir as she is around Adrien, so maybe it'll be easier for both of us."

"Exactly."

"Plagg you are a genius," Adrien said, "school should be over by now, so I can transform and go straight there."

"Wait, I didn't mean transform, I just meant go to her and act more like Cat as Adrien."

Adrien ignored him completely.

"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"

As the small kwami was sucked in, he screamed out, "THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Adrien changed into the familiar black suit that he had come to love.

"Alright," Cat Noir said as he looked at his suit, "let's go pay Mari a visit."

 **o0o**

He was always glad the bakery was close. He tended to drop by there from time to time as Cat Noir, Sabine and Tom were never one to refuse giving a couple of free pastries to one of the superheroes of Paris. Even when he would request to pay, packing a couple of euros into the pockets of his suit, they wouldn't let him. Sabine would always say that he was too skinny and that he clearly didn't eat enough, then give him more than he could eat. He would always joke about his strict diet plan with them, but added in a couple of jokes about how cat food didn't have much nutritional value.

However, today he wasn't going to get any pastries. Today was all about Marinette, all about his lady. Now that he was Cat Noir, he should be able to finally tell her everything that he needed to. He just hoped it would go as well as he had...

He heard it from a block or two away. It was low and quiet, but his enhanced senses allowed him to be able to hear it. It was a quiet sobbing, someone crying from a building not far away. From the sound of it, it was on his way to the bakery. He might be able to stop there and talk to whoever it was, maybe make them feel a bit better before he went and talked to Marinette. He was sure that a visit from a superhero could really lighten anyone's mood. He quickly sprung from rooftop to rooftop, following his ears and being guided by the sound. It took him a little bit, but he eventually found the sound. The source, however, made his heart sink.

Marinette was leaning against the railing on her balcony, her head buried in her arms. Small teardrops fell down to the floor as she let them out. Cat had to stop for a minute to take in the sight. He had never seen someone cry like this, she had to be very upset. He couldn't stand seeing her like this, he didn't think that he could bear to see anyone like this, but it was worse because of who was crying. He had already planned to help whoever was crying, but now he needed to.

He sprung over to the top of the bakery and carefully leaped down onto the balcony behind Marinette. She seemed not to hear him, he was as quiet as... well, as a cat. He stepped up behind her, "hey Princess."

She quickly spun around, her eyes all puffy and red, "Cat Noir?"

"At your service," Cat said as he took a bow.

"What are you doing here," Marinette said as she wiped her eyes.

"Well I saw you crying," Cat said. He raised his hand up to her face and wiped away a tear from her cheek, "and I'm not one to ignore a damsel in distress. What's wrong?"

Marinette pushed his hand down, "didn't curiosity kill the cat?"

Cat let out a small laugh, "yes, but satisfaction brought it back."

"Alright," Marinette said, "but you can't tell a soul."

Cat placed a hand to his chest, "I swear on all my nine lives."

Marinette let out her own laugh. She turned around and leaned against the railing again, looking out on the Paris skyline. Cat walked up besides her and imitated the motion.

"There's this guy," She said after a long pause, "I've known him for a couple months now, and I... I've kinda had a crush on him since we've met."

That hit Cat hard. "Anyways," Marinette continued, "today, a friend of mine said he asked about me, and when she asked why, he got started to blush."

 _Wait,_ Cat thought to himself, _this all sounds familiar._ "Well, after my classes, I decided to go and talk to him, I wanted to see if it was true and ask him to the carnival in town. The whole time I spoke, he just..." She tears started to well up in her eyes again, "he just blankly stared at me, I don't even think he was listening. Then he just..." She broke down crying and buried her head back into her arms.

Cat put a gentle hand on her back, "I'm... I'm sorry for you."

She lifted her head and wiped her eyes, "it's... it's fine. He was... a bit too out of my league anyways. But hey, a girl can dream."

Cat thought for a second. He spun around so his back and elbows were against the railing, "well if this guy thinks that he's too good for you, then clearly you're the one that's too good for him."

Marinette gave him look, "oh really."

"Yeah," Cat said as he gazed up at the night sky, "if he can't see a great girl right in front of him, well that makes him a... a jerk... sorry, I couldn't think of anything clever."

Marinette laughed, "it's fine." She turned her gaze back to the skyline, "but I can tell you, he's not like that. He's extremely kind, gentle, caring, and one of the most amazing people I've ever met."

Cat felt that he had competition, "well, then he missed out on someone just as great."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've seen what you can do, and I think that you're amazing." He thought for a minute, "Marinette, I... I need to tell you something."

"No Cat," Marinette said, stepping in front of him and putting her hand over his mouth, Her face had become a bit red, "I need to tell _you_ something, "I... I still remember that night you shared with me. The one you prepared for Ladybug, I mean. I... I know that you didn't make it specifically for me, but it still meant a lot that you would share it with me like that. I... never really appreciated it then, but that was because I was blinded by someone else."

"I have some experience in that field."

"Well, now I do know how I understand how I felt when you showed me that. I felt amazed, amazed that you would make something so beautiful and then share it with me. Even when the boy that I loved didn't show up, you did, and you somehow made everything better."

"I'm a hero, it's my job to make everything better."

"You know that's not what I meant you stupid cat." Her eyes seemed to shine, "I mean... you..."

She didn't finish her sentence. She just grabbed Cat's face and pulled him into a kiss. This was honestly the last thing Cat had expected to happen tonight. He hoped that it _could_ happen, but he never dreamed that it would. Marinette was kissing him, Ladybug was kissing him. He was being kissed by the two people that he loved most in the world all at once. And so he rolled with it, he leaned in and kissed back.

After what felt like a century, Marinette finally pulled back to breath. "I'm... I'm sor..."

Before she could finish her apology, Cat leaned in and stole another kiss. He slowly pulled away, "don't be sorry. I've felt the same way about you for a long time."

Marinette was speechless, she didn't know what to say. Cat was the next one to speak, "you said you wanted to invite this guy to the carnival right, well, how about I take you there instead."

"What?"

"I'm saying... how would you like to go out with me? You know, just the two of us?"

"You mean, like a date?"

"Well... yeah."

"You can't be serious."

"Why would I not want to go out with you after I just kissed you."

"That's not what I meant Cat. I mean, what would people think if they saw me on a date with a superhero?"

Cat hadn't thought about that. "Well then... what if you weren't seen with a hero. I can come in some sort of disguise. That way no one knows that it's me, and no one can figure out my identity."

"And how will I know it's you then?"

"I'll wear... green sunglasses, and a hoodie with cat ears."

"You're kidding me?"

"Come on. I can honestly say I care about you, with all my heart, I just want to be able to show it. Plus, I figure someone should take you to this fancy carnival while it's still in town, and if whoever this guy you bring up can't see what he's missing out on, then I may as well take you."

Marinette thought for a bit, "I don't know kitten, I think I may still have a chance with him."

"Oh come on Princess," Cat said as he moved around her "what could he have that I don't."

"For starters, no puns."

"Oh come on, my puns are purr-fect princess."

Marinette laughed, "Purr-haps, but I still feel skeptical about this."

"Princess," Cat said with a bow, "there's no harm in a first date, especially after a kiss."

"No, it's not that. It's just that... it seems dangerous to be dating a superhero."

Cat thought, "it can be, but you're also safer than ever because you'll always be near a superhero."

"But... what about Ladybug? I thought you loved her."

"I do, just like you love someone, but I know that she's too professional for me. I think it's better for me if I move away from dreams look towards reality, look towards people I truly care about."

Marinette thought for a bit, "you know what Cat, you're right. I may have had this crush for too long. I think it's time that I look towards the people who care about me as much as I care about them. If you're able to move on from Ladybug, then I guess I can move on from Adrien."

"Wait, what did you say?"

"I said I can move on from Adrien. Like I said, he was a bit out of my league anyways."

"Adrien," Cat said nervously, "as in Adrien Agreste?"

"Yeah," Marinette said, looking at him in a confused manner, "why?"

"Oh it's nothing," Cat said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "it's just... I didn't think you'd be into a pretty boy like him."

"Like I said, he's more than just another pretty face. He's very kind, but I don't think he loves me the way that I love him."

"Uh..." Cat was at a loss for words now, he was pretty sure that his heart had just stopped. He was officially down to eight lives after that.

"Now that I think about it," Marinette went on, "for as nice as he is, he has never been for me the way you have."

Seven lives.

"I tried asking him out today, but he didn't seem to be listening and then he ran off saying that he can't be near me."

Six

"I guess he just doesn't like me in that way."

Five

"But I'm glad that there is someone that cares about me that way." She kissed him on his cheek.

Four

"I think that you're amazing Cat," Marinette said, "and I think I want to be with you for all your nine lives."

"Actually Princess," Cat said, gripping his chest, "my heart stopped a couple times as you talked. I think I'm down to two now."

Marinette laughed again, "alright kitten. So about this date you brought up."

"Oh... yeah, the date. I was so caught up in the compliments that I had almost forgot I had asked."

"Well I was thinking we could meet near the entrance of the carnival around seven," Marinette said as she jokingly scratched Cat's chin like one would a normal Cat, "and you better not forget that."

Cat Noir let out a purr as she gently scratched his neck, "don't worry Princess. I may be a cat, but my memory is like an elephant's."

"That's good," Marinette said as she walked over to the trapdoor that led back to her room, "consider it a date Mr. Hero." She took a couple of steps down into her room before stopping, "don't be late." She blew Cat a kiss and then crawled back down to her room.

Now he was officially down to two lives. This girl was definitely going to be the death of him, but what a death it would be. Cat froze for a bit, love struck and amazed by everything that had just happened to him. Ladybug loves Adrien Agreste. Marinette _kissed_ Cat Noir. This was honestly the best day of his life.

He jumped onto the railing and leaned back to fall to the ground. He extended his staff right before he hit the ground and used it to vault up to the adjacent building. He ran mindlessly across Paris' rooftops for a little while, repeating the same things in his head over and over again. _Ladybug loves Adrien Agreste,_ Cat thought to himself, _Marinette kissed Cat Noir. Ladybug loves Adrien Agreste, Marinette kissed Cat Noir._ He had to have run for hours, just repeating the same words in his head as he did so. Finally, he went home and jumped in through his bedroom window.

"Claws in," Cat said as he landed on the floor. Plagg flew out of the ring as Adrien returned back to normal and plopped back onto his bed.

"She loves me Plagg," Adrien said with a goofy smile, "she loves Cat Noir, She loves Adrien. She loves all of me, just like I love at all of her."

Plagg stared at him for a long time. Adrien couldn't make out the look that Plagg was giving hi, his best guess was... disappointment? "Kid," Plagg finally said, "you're an idiot."

"What," Adrien said as he sat up, "where's this coming from?"

Plagg flew up close to Adrien to get right up in his face, "what was the one thing that you were supposed to do while you were at Marinette's house? What was that very important thing that you needed to tell her?"

Adrien thought for a second before his eyes widened with realization and he buried his head into his palms. "I forgot to tell her about how I know," Adrien said in a defeated way, "I was so love struck that I completely forgot about it. It's just... the kiss... and the whole her loving Adrien thing... It just..."

"I get it kid," Plagg said, "believe it or not, you're not the first love struck fool that I've had to deal with. But at the very least, you can still talk to her tomorrow. Which reminds me, congratulations. You finally are going on a date with the love of your life."

"Yeah," Adrien said as he plopped back down onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. He then realized something and sprung back up, "WAIT, I STILL NEED TO FIND MY DISGUISE." He quickly sprung out of his bed and ran to his closet to start digging through it.

Plagg just stared at him as he dug around a pile of clothes. He flew over and grabbed a piece of Camembert from his stash, "he may finally be dating the girl of his dreams, but he's still hopeless."

 **o0o**

Marinette was patiently waiting at the entrance for her date. She honestly couldn't believe that she was about to go on a date with Cat Noir. She was still trying to get over the fact that she _kissed_ him. She had kissed that giant flirt, and he kissed her back. Now... now she was going on a date with him, and she was happy about it. When she first met Cat, she had thought he was just some joker. Now she knew her friend a bit better than that, well enough to know that he was genuine now. She had seen when this cat was actually in love, and this was one of those moments, He actually did love her, as Marinette and not Ladybug. He loved the true her and... and... and she didn't even know who he was.

"Hey Princess," someone said behind her. She spun around to see who was behind her. He was wearing sunglasses with bright green lenses, a black and green hoodie with cat ears on the top and a cat paw print on the left side of his chest, and a bright green t-shirt that said 'you got to be kitten me' and a picture of a very un-amused cat on it.

"Cat," Marinette said in a confused way.

"Who else would dress like this and call you Princess," Cat said with a smile.

"Fair enough," Marinette said.

Cat was taken aback by her. She had let her hair down for once, it was beautiful and flowing. She was wearing an amazing red jacket that had long loose sleeves that went over her palms and light blue shirt with a pink skirt that went down to her knees and short black sneakers. It was such a simple outfit, but she made it look amazing. "You look great," Cat said as he looked at her.

"Thanks," Marinette said as she played with her hair, "and you look... exactly like you said you would. Was the t-shirt necessary though?"

"I thought it was," Cat said with a smirk, "but if it makes you feel better..." He zipped up the hoodie he was wearing, "that better?"

"Very," Marinette said, "but there's something else." She pulled his hood off and looked at him, "your hair is different."

"Oh," Cat said as he ran his fingers through his hair, "uh... yeah. Normally it drops down over my ears on it's own when I transform, but since I didn't transform... what are you doing?"

Marinette messed with his hair for a bit until she finally stepped back to admire her handiwork, "there, that's better."

Cat pulled his phone out of his pocket and used it like a mirror. She had changed his hair so it was messier and over his ears like it is when he was transformed.

"I kind of like it better that way," Marinette said, "the messiness fits you."

Cat smiled, "yeah." He stared at her for a while, truly amazed by how beautiful she looked tonight. She was more stunning than she usually was. He had to shake his head in order to get his thoughts straight, "Uh, Princess, before we do anything, there's something that I need to tell you. It's kind of important."

"Can it wait Cat," Marinette said, "if we talk about it now, then it's all we're going to be think about for the entire night. Let's have some fun, and then you can tell me. Alright?"

He thought for a second. As long as he remembered that he needed to tell her what he needed to, it couldn't hurt to have a little fun. "Alright Princess," Cat finally said, "lead the way."

 **o0o**

Marinette had to give credit to Cat Noir. While she always saw him as a flirt, he was actually quite a gentleman. He insisted on paying for everything and let Marinette choose where they went. She couldn't help but pull him around to every ride and booth that there was, it was all so amazing that there was no possibility for her to resist it all. No matter what ride or what booth, Cat insisted on paying for everything. He kept saying, "my family has a bottomless pit's worth of money, so go crazy. Do whatever you want and get whatever you want, it's no issue to me."

Marinette tried to pay for some things but Cat was quick like... well, a cat. She didn't necessarily mind. Cat didn't lie about one thing, he _definitely_ had money to throw around and he was not afraid to show that. However, he wasn't throwing it around in a way that was showing off how rich he was, it was more just him trying to pay for everything to be courteous.

"You know," Marinette said, wrapping herself around Cat's arm, "this is actually really nice."

"Well what did you expect," Cat said, laying his head on top of hers, "I may be bad luck, but that doesn't mean people around me can't have a good night."

"Well that's good," Marinette said, "you know, I may have been skeptical at first, but I'm really glad that I decided to do this with you Cat."

"Yeah," Cat said, "it has been a great night." He stopped for a bit, Marinette stopping with him.

"What's the matter," Marinette said as she looked up at him.

"Well," Cat said, "I just thought about it and... Marinette..."

"Hang on Cat," Marinette said, putting a finger over his lips to quiet him, "I know that what you have to say is important, but what I have to say is important too, and it may even be more important." She stopped for a second, "I... I've been thinking about it and... and I realized that you are one of my closest friends... in fact, I can say that you've become a bit more than that. I've known you for a while now and I... I've come to trust you with my life."

"Princess," Cat said, tilting his head in confusion, "what... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I trust you Cat," Marinette said, "ever since that night with Dark Owl, I've known that I trust you. That's why I'm trusting you with my biggest secret."

 _Wait,_ Cat thought to himself, _is she about to say what I think she's going to say._

She got on her toes to get her head right next to his ear and whispered, "Cat... I'm Ladybug."

Cat froze up. He didn't know how to respond to that. This wasn't necessarily new information, but it shocked him that she was telling him. This... this was a lot closer to how he expected the reveal to go, but it was kind of meaningless to him now. Well, not completely meaningless, it did show her trust towards him.

"Cat," Marinette said, snapping her fingers in his face, "are you okay?"

Cat didn't speak. He didn't know what to say. He was in complete shock from what happened. How was he supposed to react to that.

"Cat," Marinette repeated, concern in her tone, "can you please say something? You're starting to scare me."

Cat opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by a loud explosion.

"RUN," Someone shouted as they ran by.

"AKUMA," Someone else shouted.

Marinette grabbed Cat by his hand and pulled him behind one of the booths. "Come on," she said, "we got to go be heroes."

Cat shook himself out of his shock, "yeah, you're right." He unzipped his hoodie and let Plagg fly out.

"Jeez," Plagg said, "why'd you have to zip up the hoodie? You know how hot it was in there?"

Marinette couldn't help but look at the small black cat, "is that your kwami?"

Plagg looked at her, "ah, so you're the girl I've been hearing all about. Guess this means that you told her kid."

"Actually," Tikki said as she fluttered out from her hiding space, "it's... gotten a little more complicated."

"Wait," Marinette said, "Tikki, do you know what he was going to say?"

Tikki didn't respond for a bit, "It's a long story."

"And we can talk about it after people are safe," Cat said, "but it is something very important that we'll talk about later. But first..." Cat took off his sunglasses and fixed his hair. "You told me yours," Adrien said, "I figure it's only fair that I tell you mine."

"A-Adrien," Marinette said, "you're..."

"We'll talk about it later," Adrien said, "right now there are people who need us, alright?"

Marinette froze for a bit, "y-yeah."

"Alright then," Adrien said. He stuck his arm out in front of him.

"PLAGG..."

"WAIT," Marinette yelled. Before Adrien could ask what was wrong, Marinette placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss. Adrien was shocked at first, but then leaned in and embraced it. After a short time, Marinette pulled away and looked at him, "a kiss for luck, a black cat like you could use some."

"Y-yeah," Adrien said, "In fact, I think I may need some more luck."

"Down Kitty," Marinette said, jokingly pushing him away by his nose like she tended to, "stop the akuma, and then we'll see where this goes from there."

Adrien smiled, and then gave her a bow, "as you wish My Lady."

Marinette rolled her eyes, "you ready?"

"Only if you are," Adrien said with a smirk.

"Alright then," Marinette said as she brushed the hair away from her ear to reveal her earrings. Adrien stuck out his arm in front of him.

"TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT."

 **o0o**

They managed to purify the akuma rather quickly. It was some carnival worker, but they couldn't exactly figure out why he was akumatized. All they knew was his power was balloons, his body was balloons, and his akumatized object was, obviously, a balloon. They didn't have any trouble actually beating him, not even having to use Lucky Charm or Cataclysm to fight him. The biggest issue was poping balloons and hoping that the small akuma. Cat counted how many balloons he popped, but gave up counting at 37.

After a long time, Ladybug popped the balloon with the akuma inside and quickly purified it. Once they had done that, they did their standard fist bump, talked with some fans and the press, and then ran off to find somewhere private to talk.

After a bit of running, they went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed up at the top. Luckily, no one seemed to be at the top at the moment. They both sat down on the railing and looked down onto Paris. Neither of them spoke for a bit, simply staring out at the city.

Finally, Ladybug broke the silence, "so... you're Adrien Agreste?"

"Uh... yeah," Cat said, messing with his tail, "and you're Marinette."

"Yeah," Ladybug said, messing with her hair a bit, she still had it down from earlier. "So, what do we do with said information."

"Well," Cat said "I do need to be honest with you. I... I've known for a little while now."

"WHAT," Ladybug shouted, "FOR HOW LONG?"

"J-just a couple of days," Cat said, "I found out when we fought Dream Eater and you passed out. I didn't want to, I was actually standing on a roftop with my eyes closed just so I wouldn't find out, but... But Tikki said I had to open my eyes in order to get you to safety."

Ladybug went silent for a bit. "My Lady," Cat said, "Marinette, I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I panicked when I saw you at school, and then I forgot to tell you the night before and... I'm so sorry."

Ladybug still didn't respond. Cat went silent for a bit too, trying to think of what he was going to say next, "My Lady, I've been working on how I wanted to tell you ever since I found out. I may have... revised it a bit since I found out, I've figured out some things about myself since then so I had to, but it is still the same message."

He cleared his throat, "Marinette, you are one of the most amazing people I have ever met, ever since I met you I've known that. You are creative, talented, and overall caring. Before I knew what I know now, I can say I loved you..." Ladybug perked up at the words. "I loved you as Marinette, but I denied those feelings because I thought my love for Ladybug was stronger. When I found out that the two people I loved were the same, I didn't know how to react, I panicked and ran away. I was so happy that I couldn't handle it. I love you, all of you.I know you may not trust me, may think I misused my powers to get closer to you, and I can agree with you in some sense. I can understand if you feel betrayed by me not telling you that I knew, but I hope that over time we can..."

"Shut up and kiss me you stupid cat," Ladybug said as she turned his head and pressed their lips together. She pulled away and looked her in the eyes, "I will admit, I am a little upset that you didn't tell me that you knew sooner, but I can also say I'd probably be just as nervous about finding out that two of the people I love are the same."

"You're not mad?"

"I am a little upset, but no, I'm not mad." She ran her fingers through his hair, "you're talking to the leading expert in panicking around their crushes, I've done worse things than run away from you."

"Really," Cat said with a smirk, "like what?"

"Oh," Ladybug said, twirling her hair around her finger as her face went red, "well, it's a little embarrassing. Let's just say it has to do with phones."

"Alright then," Cat said. He looked over the city, "night's still young, I feel like we could still do more."

Ladybug thought for a minute, then let out a devilish smile, " _Purr_ -haps Kitten. Maybe if you're _feline_ up to it, we can catch a _mew-_ vie, nut I'd pre- _fur_ if we just stay here and kiss some more."

It was Cat's turn for his face to go red, "... My Lady, I have never been more in love with you than I am right now."

Ladybug laughed, "I thought that you'd like that Kitty. So what do you say?"

"I'd say that latter option sounds nice," Cat said as he leaned in closer.

"I would have to agree," Ladybug said as she leaned in to. They both leaned into a soft kiss and stayed there for a long time.

 **END**


End file.
